On this page I have 30 BsB interviews and articles. Some you've seen- a lot you probably haven't. Look for a line of dashes (---) between articles. If you have an article to contribute, e-mail me.

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The Backstreet Boys' Year in Hell

the high price of kid stardom 
OK I'll bet Rolling Stone has some kind of copyright on this so um if you don't tell them I won't! =) 

There is fame, and there is teen-idol fame. The Backstreet Boys are well-acquainted with the latter, which transcends autograph seeking and enters a surreal realm where girls will offer up their own internal organs on the black market for, say, one of Kevin's used Kleenex.

"They try to bribe us with money to get backstage," says Q, the Boys' longtime bodyguard and possibly the most beleaguered security man on earth. "They'll say, 'My dad can get you a deal on a car.' "He sighs. "Little girls will have a tape recorder, saying they're from newspapers or Fox Kids." In hotels, continues Q, "they come upstairs acting like housekeeping, or they call every single room in the hotel until they get the guys."

The Backstreet Boys love their female fans, God knows they do. They say this repeatedly. It is those fans who are primarily responsible for the success of 1997's 27 million-sellin', five-singles-spawnin' album Backstreet Boys. When the girls spaz out, trembling and crying at autograph signings, it is the Boys who patiently, kindly talk them down. "I'll say, 'I'm human, it's no big deal,'" says Brian Littrell.

One need not be Phi Beta Kappa to understand the group's appeal. The Boys' frothy pop and dreamy ballads tell the girls the very words they can't extract from bepimpled boyfriends: "I'll never break your heart, I'll never make you cry."

However, what the Boys -- Littrell, Howie Dorough, Kevin Richardson, A.J. McLean and Nick Carter -- could really use is a few male fans. Gay men they've got. ("They're cool," clarifies Dorough. "They know we all, you know, date girls.") There are also the reluctant dads and boyfriends in the audience. ("They try to act tough, but we see them bob their heads," says Q.) But the Backstreet Boys want something more.

With the coming of its new album, Millennium, the Orlando band hopes, finally, to be taken seriously. "I wish people would realize that we have the goods and we're legit," says Richardson heatedly. He is presiding over a barbecue at his house. His band mates mill around nearby. "We're talented, and we're not some flash in the pan. We've been together for six years."

There is another, more insidious misconception that surrounds the Boys. Because the group has sold the aforementioned 27 million records and has toured the globe countless times, it would be natural to assume that each of the Backstreet Boys has himself a Mount Kilimanjaro-size pile of cash.

Not so. "The truth is that we haven't got that much money," Carter says evenly. Indeed. Last May, the group filed a lawsuit against its former manager, Lou Pearlman, and others in his company. Calling themselves "indentured servants," the Boys accused Pearlman and Co. of keeping some $10 million in recording and touring revenues since 1993. The Boys, meanwhile, received $300,000. Total.

The ensuing court battle involved a squad of twenty lawyers, as well as judges in three different states. In the midst of it, Littrell endured open-heart surgery. "1998 was our most successful year," says Richardson. He pauses. "It was also the hardest year of my life."

Let's unravel this by starting in 1993, when the Backstreet Boys formed under the tutelage of Pearlman, head of the Orlando-based Trans Continental, a collective of companies that includes charter planes, a travel agency and Chippendales dancers. In the early Nineties, Pearlman took notice of New Kids on the Block, the world's most successful act, and heard the distant strains of -- can you hear it? -- ka-ching.

He set out to recruit a boy band of his own -- and in what better town than Orlando, which was crawling with young hopefuls auditioning like mad to sing and dance in the various theme parks? McLean, Carter and Dorough were the first to sign on. Richardson, a transplant from Lexington, Kentucky, followed; finally, Richardson's cousin Littrell was called in from Kentucky to complete the lineup.

Their first gig: Sea World. School assemblies and family package tours followed, and then came opening slots for REO Speedwagon and the Village People. The Backstreet Boys' first single, "We've Got It Goin' On," proved otherwise when it peaked at Number 69 on the charts and sank.

"At the time that we released our album," says Carter, adjusting his Fubu hat, "Snoop was big, Nirvana was really big, so we were at the wrong end of the cycle."

Undaunted, Pearlman recruited former New Kids manager Johnny Wright and dispatched the band to Europe, where teen pop springs eternal. The Boys promptly became huge in Germany, and the rest of Europe soon followed. For two years, they toured nonstop.

America was still unmoved. "We'd leave Europe," says Littrell, digging into some corn bread, "where there were, like, 2,000 people at the airport, to . . ." He makes cricket noises.

During the Boys' lean years, Pearlman claims, he poured some $3 million into their career, just in time for the musical pendulum in the States to swing back to pop, thanks to the Spice Girls and Hanson. After three years in the field, the Boys were pumped. They swooped down on America with "Quit Playing Games (With My Heart)." The sweetly infectious tune (and its pec-static video) soon hit Number One.

Four singles and the majority of $200 million in revenue later, the Boys began to chafe under their agreement with Pearlman. "I swear, in one year we had to have done five tours," says Carter. "The contracts weren't fair," says Richardson. "And we were kept on the road, and before you know it, two or three years and millions of dollars go by."

Feeling hosed, the band began to falter a bit in performance, while the competition in the pop market heated up. The Boys' five jaws dropped when, in a surreal turn of events, they discovered that 'N Sync, their main competition (at 6 million records and counting), were managed by none other than . . . Lou Pearlman. "That hurt our feelings," says Richardson. "Because for a while it was like, 'We're a family.' Then all of a sudden, 'It's business, guys, sorry.' We have nothing against . . . that group, personally. It was [Pearlman's] not being honest."

Now you know the drama; let's meet the players.

BRIAN LITTRELL: "I've been through a lot at a young age," says Littrell, 23, lining up a shot at a beloved Orlando driving range. Indeed he has, and it all began with a phone call from his cousin Kevin Richardson six years ago. Littrell was a nice churchgoing boy from Lexington who worked after school at the local Long John Silver's. Littrell also sang in the choir and at the occasional funeral ("a song called 'Heaven,' mostly") and planned to attend Cincinnati Bible College. Then he got the call.

"I guess the guys liked me, because two weeks later, I'm performing in front of 5,000 people," he recalls in that rolling Kentucky accent: Ah guess the gahz . . . Littrell, who is courtly and charmingly low-key, has the smooth voice that you hear taking a lot of the band's leads.

While the grinding teen-pop lifestyle has turned many a young talent into a broken, Leif Garrett-esque nightmare, that was the least of Littrell's worries last May, when he had open-heart surgery to correct a heart defect he had had since birth.

"After six years of a schedule that was pretty much horrendous," says his mother, Jackie, "he went for his annual checkup and the doctors noticed that his heart was getting quite large, like one for a 300-pound linebacker."

"I delayed surgery twice because of the tours," says Littrell, smiling ruefully. "I mean, the saddest thing is that I scheduled open-heart surgery around my work schedule. It was like nobody really cared or felt that it was important, because the career was moving on."

He stares out over the range. "It's not worth all that to me," he says quietly. "To be a star and not have my health? Sorry, but it's not worth it." He strides over and pulls up his shirt to reveal a thick, red, five-inch scar with two still-healing puncture marks near the bottom where breathing tubes went into his lungs. "Now I have a manly scar down the middle of my chest," he says.

Littrell doesn't remember anything that occurred right before the surgery -- not when the nurses shaved him, nor when his family gathered around him. "My mom and my girlfriend said I was real cheerful, and then they wheeled in a transfer bed and said, 'Are you ready to go?' And then -- I just busted out bawling."

He hits another ball, which sails off into the hazy Florida sun. "Eight weeks to the day of my surgery, I was onstage performing," he says. Physically, he had healed, but emotionally, he wasn't ready. "I was sixty-five percent, really. My mind-set wasn't there. But the show must go on." And so it did, with oxygen tanks at the ready backstage, which Littrell relied on for the first week or so.

It was around this time that he had an epiphany about what is important in his life. "Music is my love, but it's my job," he says. "There's things that used to be taken for granted that aren't now: time with your family, time to enjoy the fruits of your labor."

Which he is doing with relish -- new Beemer, new house. Littrell heads to his home, in a nearby gated community. He is currently spiffing the place up, with the help of his girlfriend, a pretty blond actress named Leigh Anne. As he nears the place, she calls him to say that fans have been taking his mail out of the mailbox. Ladies! This is a federal offense!

"This isn't the first time," he sighs. He walks into his house as his Chihuahua, Lil' Tyke, pingpongs joyfully around the hallway. Littrell's house is airy and comfortable, backed by a tranquil pool surrounded by flowers. He proudly gives a tour, including his dark-blue office, stuffed with gold records, and the bedroom. (Attention, fan Web sites: It has light-blue walls, a white bedspread and a Jacuzzi encircled by candles in the bathroom.)

"I'm trying to figure out ways to hang my hat at the end of the day," he says. "One day I hope to have a pop-gospel hour. Maybe I don't want to have a solo career one day, maybe I do. I've had a lot of people say they want to work with me when I'm finished with the group. And I look them in the face and say, 'I can't tell you if I'll ever be ready.' "He smiles. " But if I am, I'll call you.'"

A.J. MCLEAN is pointing out his tattoos. "I have ten," he says. "Each one has a meaning. I started with this one over here on my arm, which says A.J. in tribal markings. The final one will be angel wings, and it's pretty much gonna cover my shoulder blades. Next I want to get one on my stomach -- my lucky number, which is sixty-nine." Now, hold on a minute. McLean, 21, is the rebel of the group, but it's not what you think. Sixty-nine is his lucky number. McLean speaks very intensely, occasionally exhaling a plume of Marlboro Light. He has on a white hat, blue tank top, giant tan pants. Cologne clings to him lightly. Today, McLean is steering his gray Ford Expedition to his favorite place: McDonald's. "Yeah, can I get two bacon, egg and cheese biscuits and one sausage, egg and cheese McMuffin," he hollers into the drive-through. "And hash browns."

"I've noticed lately that people have been recognizing me, and I assumed it was my tattoos." He laughs. "It's my damn goatee. They're like, 'Do you do that to yourself or have someone else do it?' I do it myself. I spend about a half-hour every single morning sculpting it." He strokes his chin, which sports a truly awe-inspiring design, kind of a Mondrian without the colors.

McLean, whose deep, rough-edged voice anchors the band's harmonies, has always thrived on attention. He loves to be recognized, loves to go on the band's Web sites and talk to fans. In the seventh grade, he moved from Kissimmee, Florida ("Really, really wack -- we didn't get President's Day off from school, but we got Rodeo Day"), to Orlando and landed a role in a Nickelodeon show the very first week he arrived. He has also appeared in some seventy plays. "I grew up in the musical theater," he says, mowing through his McBiscuits. "I always pushed myself. To this day, I take my crap seriously. If, God forbid, something happened to me where I could not perform, I would rather die, basically."

McLean is very close to his mother, who manages his career. His father left when he was four. Two years ago, McLean spotted his dad's return address on a child-support notice. He drove out and knocked on the door. "He's like, 'Alex?' I was like, 'Dad?'" They embraced, crying. McLean looked around his house, incredulous: "There's Backstreet Boys crap all over the walls."

Since the emotional reunion, things have cooled a bit. "He remarried, and his wife is pushing him down my throat," says McLean, driving his rig into a carwash. "If he would do things in moderation, maybe we could get a father-son relationship back. But being so damn pushy, I just don't want to do it." He sighs, exasperated. "He calls me every day, he drives me nuts. I don't really answer his phone calls."

As we drive to McLean's house, he shows me a picture of his girlfriend, an aspiring singer. "She's me with boobs, basically," he says, pointing to a photo of a sexy brunette. "Very cool, very down to earth."

"My house is like The Jetsons," he says as he opens the door to a new, gray-shingled abode. "Red-velvet chairs, red rug, a black-and-white zebra chair. I'm not your ordinary type of Joe Schmo." Indeed, his house is a riot of color, notably the red-velvet pool table. Two black-and-white Shih Tzu puppies, Panda and Bear, frolic in the kitchen.

It's the picture of domesticity, for McLean confines his raunchiness to the stage. "I would like to show a different side of me, do a solo show like R. Kelly or Keith Sweat," he says. "In our show, we each do a solo song. My song is 'Lay Down Beside Me.' It sounds sexual, but it's not. The chorus is, 'If you lay down beside me/You can get all inside me/I can get all inside you, too.' But when you think about it, a guy can obviously get inside a girl, but a girl can't get inside a guy."

He heads into the kitchen, throws a bag on the counter. It's the remaining sausage McMuffin. "For later," he says.

HOWIE DOROUGH speaks softly, because he's in church -- specifically, the Catholic church in downtown Orlando that he grew up attending. "I was baptized here," he says. "I sang in the choir. I had my first Communion here. Hopefully I'll get married here."

Sweet-natured Dorough, 25, tries to attend church every Sunday: "My mom's Puerto Rican, and my dad's Irish-American. There's no more Catholic that you can get."

The Orlando native has been in the business since he was six, doing commercials for theme parks and the like. He took jazz, tap and ballet classes, and got his big break as a Lollipop Guild Munchkin in a local production of The Wizard of Oz. Dorough would bump into A.J. during his rounds of theater auditions. "I was so close to getting so many things, like the Mickey Mouse Club and Menudo," he says. "I was always used to performing in front of people."

Good thing, because audiences were tough in the Boys' early days on the junior high school auditorium circuit. "The guys would heckle us," moans Dorough. "We'd say, 'You think you can do better, come on up here.' We'd sing a cappella and we'd have them sing along with us. When it was their turn, we'd just drop out, let them sing by themselves. It embarrassed the heck out of them." 

Unlike some of his band mates, Dorough does not live in a gated community, so his house gets a fair amount of visitors. "My parents are very cool about it," he says, shifting around in his pew. "They'll let them in and take pictures with them." Dorough plans to buy his parents' house for them. He's also dabbling in real estate, developing condos on the east coast of Florida. "I'm trying to be smart about the money we're earning," he says.

As Dorough is talking, Q the bodyguard is discreetly making his way over to his charge. Q leans in close.

"Your car's being ticketed," he says in a low voice. "If you want to get out of your ticket, write this to Kristina with a K." He hands the incredulous Dorough a piece of paper. "I'm dead serious," says Q. "The cop is out there waiting for you. You're welcome."

"He's really going to let me out of this?" asks Dorough.

"Kristina with a K," replies Q.

NICK CARTER, proud new homeowner at the age of nineteen, bustles around his Tampa house, tidying up. He Windexes the counters and shoves a box of Cookie Crisp cereal in the pantry. Nick is tall (six feet one inch) and, surprisingly for the group heartthrob, pretty shy.

Four pugs have the run of the place (what is it with the little dogs?), cheerfully peeing on the rug. Nick embarks on a house tour: a gleaming black Prowler in the garage, a five-by-five-foot TV courtesy of his record company, a white dining room with pastel chairs and a glass case filled with Beanie Babies. The room that he has spent the most work on is undoubtedly the bedroom. Is that a neon glow coming from underneath the door?

The white bed is flanked by round neon sculptures, reflected by the mirror behind the bed. To the right is a six-foot, clear-plastic palm tree, filled with water and tiny orange bubbles. To the left is an abstract neon figure. "Kind of Miami Vice," says Carter. 

Carter says he's a "modern-day hermit. A lot of people don't recognize me, and I don't care." He dearly loves to play video games. Lately he's been kicking it old-school with some antiquated Nintendos he found. Carter is the youngest of the group. "When we recorded the last album," he says, "I was going through a . . . transitional stage. I wasn't impressed with my voice. So I'm really happy with what's come out on this album."

Like Howie and A.J., Nick had a showbiz background: some Phantom of the Opera here, some amateur talent competitions there. He was offered a contract in the Mickey Mouse Club, but then the Boys came a-knocking. Carter was thirteen. 

The reason for the band's success, says Carter, is that "each one of us is extremely talented. A lot of groups might utilize one or two of the group's voices for the lead vocals. We use every single one."

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The controversial SPIN article

Say "wassup" to the new kids on the block: 1998 song-and-dance pinups the Backstreet Boys.Their young fans absolutely adore them, but, Maureen Callahan wonders, is the feeling entirely mutual?

IN BED WITH... THE BACKSTREET BOYS 

Tiffany is, like, shaking. She has just smelled a Backstreet Boy. "He was wearing cologne!" she shrieks, as she pogos outside Disney World's House of Blues. The venue itself, where the Backstreet Boys will later perform to a sellout crowd whose average age is 12, is more than apt: An antiseptic franchise inspired by similarly successful ventures, it's practically a metaphor for the Boys themselves. But to the girls who swarm around Tiffany on this bright Florida afternoon, Backstreet inspire nothing less than reverence. "I was close to Nick once," says a solemn 15-year-old named Jana. "But I was so shocked I couldn't say anything." 

Having borrowed liberally not just from now-defunct, sexually nonthreatening Euro boy bands such as Take That and East 17 but also from the American daddy of them all-New Kids on the Block -- the Backstreet Boys have emerged as the teenybopper band of the moment. "I've tried everything to meet them," says a shy, chubby fan named Katie, who would really rather worship from afar; she's happy to sit with her copy of Hangin' With the Backstreet Boys: An Unauthorized Biography, and reread factoids about Nick. "We have a lot in common," she says, readjusting her wire-rimmed glasses. "We both like to play Nintendo, and we both like sports, and...ooooh, he's fine!" 

Eighteen-year-old Nick Carter is by far the most popular Boy -- he's the youngest and looks a lot like Leonardo DiCaprio. Then there's 20-year-old A.J. "Bone" McLean, who-with his three tattoos, wacky facial hair, and 200 pairs of tinted sunglasses-is either a cliche or kinda dangerous, depending on your age. Howie Dorough, 24, answers to Howie D. or Sweet D. He lives at home, and aside from a Corvette Stingray, his most extravagant post-fame purchase has been central heat and AC. Howie hooked up with Nick and A.J. back in 1993, when they were all auditioning for TV shows here in their native Orlando. Kevin Richardson, now 27, responded to an ad placed by a talent agency; he then called his cousin, Brian Littrell. Unlike the others, who were looking to get famous any way they could, 23-year-old Brian had nursed dreams of singing professionally. In fact, back in high school, he'd wander the halls crooning New Kids tunes. "People looked at me like it was a sissy thing," Brian says, "but I didn't care. I would've given anything to do what they were doing." 

Today, thanks to their manager, Johnny Wright, he is. Wright had just come off four years as the New Kids' road manager, working under uber-Svengali Maurice Starr, when, in 1993, he heard about a quintet of pretty white boys who could harmonize like an R&B group. He immediately saw the possibilities. "It was all hip-hop and alternative music then," says Wright, "but I knew that the girls who had been New Kids fans had little sisters." Though they may be five men who dress alike, pop-and-lock in sync, and routinely dodge stuffed animals onstage, the Backstreet Boys-and Wright-predictably run from any and all comparisons to NKOTB. Still, while creating and refining their image, Wright called ex-New Kid Donnie Wahlberg and asked him to give Backstreet advice. Wahlberg passed. "Johnny Wright learned a lot from us," Wahlberg says ruefully. Now 28 years old and cobbling together an acting career, Wahlberg understands all too well the ups and downs of being a teen heartthrob. "If there's any resistance to the Backstreet Boys," he says, "it's probably because of us." 

Three hours before the show, the House of Blues opens its doors to 17-year-old Leslie, who is confined to a wheelchair. The band's tour publicist, Denise (who is also A.J.'s mom), had mentioned the Boys would be busy entertaining "a little handicapped girl" before the concert, but Leslie isn't the one. She doesn't care; it's her birthday, and she's just spotted Nick roaming the hall. She's so rattled she inadvertently crumples her Backstreet Boys calendar. As Nick perfunctorily wishes Leslie a happy birthday, he spies two able-bodied girls lurking not five feet away, and he's off. Later, as he passes Leslie on his way backstage, she goes for it again: "Nick! Nick!" she implores, hands clawing air. Nick, who possesses a finely calibrated sense of detachment, pretends not to hear her. "Oh," Leslie whispers to herself. "Bye." 

Back in the dressing room, Nick and the others huddle with Wright. It was Wright who devised the plan of attack that broke Backstreet: While the alt-rock revolution was raging in the States, Wright took them to Europe and slapped them on every boy-band bill he could, exploiting their all-American wholesomeness. ("At one point I had them run across the stage with the American flag," he says proudly.) **Gag** At home, Wright was forced to go the direct-market route, quietly dispatching the Boys to theme parks and junior highs across the nation. "Teenage male vocal groups were not going to meet with acceptance in America," says Jeff Fenster, VP of A&R at their record label, Jive. "So the idea was to make a record that would appeal to the global marketplace." Fenster hired Swedish writing/producing duo Denniz PoP and Max Martin, who had penned hits for Robyn, and produced Ace of Base and Ireland's version of Backstreet, Boyzone. The Euro strategy worked: Backstreet's self-titled debut album, a slick collection of New Jack posturings, went on to sell 12 million copies overseas. Eventually, pop groups such as Hanson and the Spice Girls eased Backstreet's reentry Stateside (their album is now quadruple platinum here); likewise, their success has spawned a slew of harmonizing teen hopefuls, such as 'N Sync, Five, No Authority, and 911-none of which have yet to register with the kids. As the Boys can testify, winning over the jaded youth of America can be a bitch. "Those were the most intimidating, cruelest crowds," says Kevin of the band's days on the junior-high circuit. "Little teenage dudes coming up to us saying, 'Backstreet Boys? Who are you?'" 

Though Wright maintains that the Boys are "very much in control of what they do," both Kevin and Howie have flinched over Wright's tactics. "We don't wanna be in a certain situation," says Howie, gently alluding to the New Kids' career trajectory, "but we have links to certain situations." After making the video for "Quit Playing Games (With My Heart)," Kevin, aghast at the sight of himself bare-chested and wet, demanded a reshoot. The record company shooed him away. After their album was finally released here last August, Kevin called the president of Jive and griped that all the merchandising-Sweet Valley High inserts, throw pillows, bandannas, key chains-was out of hand. He was told to suck it up. "There's always gonna be a market of little girls who wanna hang cute boys on their walls," says Dave McPherson, Jive's assistant VP of A&R, who signed the Boys in May 1994. Wahlberg is even less tolerant of such whining: "Look, if you're lucky enough to be in the right place at the right time, you're gonna tap into a frenzied marketplace," he says. "Teenage girls have an insatiable appetite." 

Despite the short shelf life of most boy bands, Backstreet plan on a long-term career. They're all learning to write and play instruments, and McPherson says they have a shot. His major issue is with their lyrics, which are pure Hallmark. Only one line on their album remotely smacks of do-me abandon ("Am I sexual?"), and when they deliver it in Orlando, the girls roar and pound the floorboards so violently two roadies rush to secure the speakers. Still, the real highlight of any show comes during "I'll Never Break Your Heart," when Howie, Kevin, and Nick-in a move conceived by Wright-serenade three lucky fans, pre-plucked by security. As the girls tremble under spotlights, the Boys, swathed in white, gallantly seat each at a small table, then fall to their knees like lovesick troubadours. Tonight, Howie and Kevin pull it off with aplomb; Nick, however, is laughing so hard he's reduced to lip-synching. He gives his girl a buddy pat on the back; she shoots him a quizzical look, but he keeps his head bowed. He's still laughing. 

That's when Liz Arana passes out -- not at this show, but at this same moment. "Oh, that is so beautiful when they sing to the girls," she gasps. Liz is a soft-spoken 15-year-old who, with her sloped eyelids and slight heft, seems like the kind of girl who yearns silently from her Long Island bedroom. But at last year's New York City Backstreet Boys show, her first ever, she was drunk with adrenaline. "Okay," she begins. "I pushed my way to the front of the stage, and there was some 12-year-old standing in front of me on a crate!" So: Liz knocked the girl down, climbed onto the crate, ripped off her bra and threw it at Nick, and then completely lost it. "When they sang 'I'll Never Break Your Heart,' I just burst out crying, and then I passed out." Liz, who bursts out crying whenever she sees anything of theirs for the first time-a video, a photograph, a TV appearance-says it was awful. "I missed three songs!" 

Liz spends suburban afternoons watching her compilation tape of Backstreet appearances, or pasting photos into her Backstreet scrapbook, or staring at her walls, which are plastered with Backstreet pinups. The walls, she says, are a problem. "My mom just painted them," she says, "and she wants the posters down. So does my boyfriend." Robbie, whom Liz has been dating for a month ("He's my first serious, serious boyfriend"), loathes the Backstreet Boys. "He says they're faggots and they can't sing," she says. "I'm like, 'Your point is...?'" 

This is the first time Liz has ever been so enthralled with a band-she says she has spent more than $1,000 on Boys merchandise-and she, like millions of other girls before, is slightly embarrassed by the depths of her passion. She only feels comfortable talking about it with other girls, girls who, like her, are beginning to date real boys but who feel safer longing for the unattainable ones-the Nick Carters. She cradles a slip of memo paper and reads a quote of Nick's that she copied: "Everyone wants a girl with a perfect personality; it doesn't really matter how they look." Does she believe boys when they say stuff like that? "Not all boys," she answers softly. "But Nick, I would believe." 

A couple of days after the House of Blues gig, the Boys are in New York City for a photo shoot. They hug-they perform this ritual constantly, even after only a half-hour apart-then circle a gaggle of models as though they've encountered unidentified life forms. Johnny Wright says that during the junior-high tour, he made sure that the kids knew that "A.J. loves cars, Howie loves clothes, and Nick, Brian, and Kevin love sports. We wanted to show that these are regular guys" -- i.e., not gay. The courtship of teen girls dictates that the Boys remain publicly unattached, and this makes them sensitive to the notion they are anything but heterosexual. Howie understands it's "not macho" to be into Backstreet, but says if the band were black, they'd get compared to Boyz II Men or Shai, and boys would be down. Here, too, Donnie Wahlberg can empathize. "But instead of worrying about who's not paying attention to them," Wahlberg says, "they should worry about who is. Because once these girls get older and start drinking beer and piercing their noses," he says, "theys are going away." 

While the others chat up the models, Brian stands off in the back. He's the only Boy who's not really comfortable schmoozing or even accepting compliments; by nature, he's quiet and reserved. (While the rest of the Boys went clubbing after the Orlando show, Brian hung with his 50-year-old dad, who was visiting from Kentucky.) Right now, he can't get his mind off the "little handicapped girl" A.J.'s mom brought backstage in Orlando; she's actually battling two forms of cancer. "I didn't know how to approach her," says Brian, whose most vivid childhood memory is of doctors strapping him to his hospital bed and beating his chest till he was in tears, hoping to break up a staph infection that went straight to his heart. (About a year ago, Brian's heart began leaking blood, and he underwent surgery last month.) "I wanted to say, 'Listen, I'm getting ready to have an operation, too.' So I went over to her mother and told her that, and her mother said, 'Oh, my daughter could tell you a lot of things.'" His eyes widen. "Can you imagine?" 

The next morning, the Boys are on Regis & Kathie Lee, performing "As Long as You Love Me," a sparkly ode to unconditional love. Nick shares lead vocals with Brian and sings to his own image in the monitor. During the Q&A, Kathie Lee, eyes dewy, offers to set Brian up with her niece, who's also had heart surgery. As soon as the segment is completed, they clamber into a waiting van. The garage door shimmies open, and girls begin crawling all over the van, smushing their faces up against the glass. Nick turns to Brian. "You know, if we don't go out there," he says wearily, "we're gonna look like real pricks."

Having fulfilled all obligations, Nick and Brian head to the nearest Blimpie. Nick orders a tuna fish hero and, as he blithely stares at himself in the mirror, tries to discern the nature of teen girl fandom. He comes up empty: "It's real hard to put yourself in their shoes," he says finally. But Nick's obviously amused by the frenzied adulation-for instance, he could barely contain himself onstage just four nights ago. "The joke was on Howie," says Brian, who explains that security likes to play "little pranks" to break up the monotony. Nick bounces with delight, like a baby in a high chair. "Howie ended up with a not-so-pretty girl," he says, wiping errant chunks of tuna from his chin. "Do you remember her? Do you?" Oh, sure-she was one of the heavier ones, right? "Aaaahhhh, yeah," Nick says, with strained diplomacy. "I got my girl, Kevin got his girl, and the last girl was Howie's. He got stuck, and he made this face like, 'I'm gonna kill somebody.'" He shrugs. "It was funny." 

On the way back to the hotel, Nick and Brian are intercepted by yet more fans. They pose for pictures and hurriedly scrawl autographs; a couple of girls hang back and speak in hushed tones. "You know, I saw Nick sign an autograph for one girl and then he threw it back at her. I want to know why he's like that." "You know what I wonder?" says her friend. "I want to know if he would ever date a fan." 

----------------------------------

Nick Carter Shares on his girlfriend; ASHLEIGH


T.P.-So you do have a girlfriend? 
N.C.-Yes her name is Ashleigh. 

T.P.- How long have you been seeing her? 
N.C.- For just over a year. 

T.P.-With all this touring and promotional advertisements you don't get to see her that often so how do you keep in touch? 
N.C.- Well whenever I'm home I spend every free minute with her and my family and I always call her from the road. 

T.P.- How old is Asleigh? 
N.C.- She is 15 years old turning 16 

T.P.- How did you two meet? 
N.C.- Well in every concert our security choses girls for us to sing to, and one lucky night Asleigh was chosen for me. 

T.P.- So you sang to her and you fell in love? 
N.C.- Well I enjoyed her company and found out she had a backstage pass, so we met backstage afterwards. 

T.P.- So then did it continue from there? 
N.C.- Yes Ashleigh has joined the boys and I on tour and I'm jealous of her because she gets to spend more time with my family then I do. 

T.P.- So does she live with you then? 
N.C.- Yes and no (turning a bright crimson) well she lives with me sometimes, but not all the time. 

T.P.- So do you feel you're in love? 
N.C.- Yes, but not so much that I'd be getting married or anything. We are quite serious but not nearly so much as say Brian and Leighanne are. 

T.P.- Do you realize how much you hurt some fans when they have to reconize that you have girlfriends? 
N.C.- I don't think I hurt them, but I'm pretty sure I dissapoint them. I'd also like to tell all my fans reading this that I love you also, just in a different way. I deserve to have a life don't I? 

T.P.- So what's Ashleigh like? How are you attracted to her? 
N.C.- Well I must say that I'm attracted to her both physically and mentally. She is so mind boggling she keeps me on my feet all the time. She's beautiful inside and out, I think she's perfect, except those bad hair days. NO!!! I'm just kidding. But really she's an angel. 

T.P.- Well we have to get going do you have any closing statements to your fans or to Ashleigh? 
N.C.- Well basically what I've been trying to say this whole time is that I love you all, every single one of you, Ashleigh just seems to be the fan who has managed to capture my heart at the moment. You never know my next girlfriend could be you! (smiles cheekily) C-Ya! 

-------------------------------

BSB's Top Secrets!

Top US boy band Backstreet Boys have never been ones to air 

their dirty linen in public... until now, that is. We sent 

Belinda Jones to meet them, with strict instrutions to make 

them dish the dirt on each other's deepest, darkest secrets. 

She didn't let us down. Oo-er! 

 

Backstreet Boy Howie gives us a knowing look. "You want the goosey gossip stuff, the dirty grind, huh? he asks. We nod eagerly. So Kevin leans forward and confesses all about his peanut butter fetish. Damn, he's only talking about smearing the stuff on Ritz crackers. C'mon guys, we want real down-on-the-farm muckspreading! Blank looks. Even using amateur hypnosis, it's hard to wangle any info on who's sported the tackiest love bite, let alone any bedroom stories. It's time to quit playin' games guys! 

Now,just where did we put that torture kit? Come on, don't be shy, give us... 

 

THE DIRT ON A.J! 

Nick: Bone. That's all I'm saying! (eh?!) It has a meaning, 
but I can't tell you it - you have to figure it out. It's a 
secret. 

Brian: A.J is Mr Talkative. He's always on the phone to his 
family in Florida. I'd hate to see his phone bill. He'll 
chat to anyone and tell you stories all day long, whether 
they're true or not. Sometimes, after a gig, I want to be 
quiet and rest, but he's like, "Let me tell you what 
happened!" And I'm like, "Listen, I was there, I saw it!" 

Kevin: Sometimes A.J just can't say no, because he doesn't 
want to upset anyone. He makes too many promises. He's also 
the funniest drunk. He just gets silly. 

Howie: I remember one time when A.J was hanging around some 
girls and he broke into some poetry, saying something like, 
"Girls are like diamonds - at first, they are rough on the 
edges, but once they are polished and smoothed, they are 
very beautiful." I was like, "Where did that come from?" I 
was kinda embarrased. I tease him all the time about that. 

 

A.J'S CASE FOR THE DEFENCE: 
Well, the diamond situation? Let me see... Sometimes you're 
with a girl and you don't know what you're going to say, so 
you say whatever sounds good and usually girls have a really 
good sensitive side, so you can go mushy on them. Shoot, I 
don't know what I was thinking at the time! 

 

A.J'S CONFESSION: 
I embarrased myself two days ago when we did a photoshoot 
where I was dressed as The Riddler in this green spandex 
outfit. I mean, I looked just like Jim Carrey! Anyway, I 
went out on stage and introduced our two opening acts 
dressed like that. The audience went totally nuts and all 
the guys were tripping out - they were like, "I can't 
believe you did it!" 

WE KNOW: 
He bites the skin around his fingers! 

 

THE DIRT ON BRIAN! 

Kevin: Brian is a real clown. My best way to wind up Brian is 
to say, "Oh, that's real professional of you! Yeah, nice 
attitude, that's really good." If he wants to do the same to 
me, he'll say, "Oh, that's real mature." We all like to rile 
each other and get under each other's skin. 

A.J: He cries - at least he did when we got our gold record. 
Him and Kevin both. 

Nick: We're very competitive, especially in sports. When he 
beats me... Oh my God! 

Howie: He's an attention-getter - big time! A.J can strike up 
a conversation with anyone, but Brian will get the 
attention! It's all his facial expressions - jumping around, 
acting like a monkey! I call him a "comodian", not a 
comedian. 

 

BRIAN'S CASE FOR THE DEFENCE: 
I get that side of me from my family - we're always trying 
to do some- thing funny and make each other laugh. 

 

BRIAN'S CONFESSION: 
I bite my fingernails. I've bitten them all my life. My mom 
was always like, "Get your fingers out of your mouth!" I've 
tried to stop and it's something that bothers me because 
when I'm signing autographs, the girls are like, "You bite 
your nails!" But I still do it! 

 

WE KNOW: 

He once waited in a car outside Tower Records in London's 
Piccadilly Circus just to see what Mariah Carey looked like 
in the flesh. 

 

THE DIRT ON KEVIN! 

Brian:He's a perfectionist. He's got a lot of positive 
aspects, but he lets his perfetionist side get in the way 
sometimes, because he wants things to be too perfect. He 
knows he needs to lighten up - sometimes he looks at people 
and they think he's going to rip their head off! 

A.J: His nickname is train, because when he's on automatic 
pilot, he'll just knock you over. Like when he's playing 
basketball, he'll trample all over you! 

Howie: He's mature, responsible, professional and knows what 
he wants, but sometimes he doesn't know the most successful 
way to achieve it. He's very authoritative. You need someone 
like that, who has leadership qualities, to get the guys 
together. Sometimes, we'll get together and talk to the 
other guys because he doesn't want to come across as the one 
telling everyone what to do. 

Nick: He's into weight-lifting, always wanting to look good. 

 

KEVIN'S CASE FOR THE DEFENCE: 
In the entertainment business, everyone is so critical of 
what you look like. It's not necessarily about making myself 
look good, I just don't feel good when I'm not eating right 
and I'm not getting exercise - I feel like a piece of crap! 
I like it when the show is really hot and we're sweating. My 
weakness is peanut butter. Oh my gosh, I could eat peanut 
butter on anything! I like peanut butter and jam on Ritz 
crackers - I could eat those babies all day! 

 

KEVIN'S CONFESSION 
I wish I had A.J's voice! He has that raspy soul funk voice, 
and Brian has that smooth Kenny Loggins (old rocker) voice. 
Mine is real pure, nothing real special about it. 

WE KNOW: 
He used to dress as a Mutant Ninja Turtle and wear a wig as 
Aladdin when he worked for Disney. 

 

THE DIRT ON HOWIE! 

A.J: Howie has a few problems with his hair because it's so 
curly, so the easiest way to wind him up is to mess with his 
hair. Like if he was on a really hot date, I'd walk up 
behind him and go, "Hey, Howie!" and ruffle up his hair, out 
of sheer spite! 

Kevin: I wish I could always be as thoughtful as he is about 
others. He really has a big heart. His nickname is Sweet D. 
He can be very sensitive. 

Nick: Howie's got some weird clothes. A long time ago, when 
we first started the group, he used to wear a lot of tight 
trousers at the time baggy trousers were in - and now tight 
trousers are back in, he's into baggy trousers. That's 
Howie! 

Brian: Howie is Mr Quiet - the peacemaker of the group. He's 
like, "Guys, can't we just get along?" Being that we're five 
individuals, we can't always see eye-to-eye on what to wear 
or where we're going. Howie always sits back. He's not very 
opinionated and doesn't express his feelings off the top of 
his head. He'll wait and listen to two sides of a story and 
then he'll say, "This is what I think." Sometimes it's like 
pulling teeth, getting information out of him - he just sits 
back and listens for so long. 

 

HOWIE'S CASE FOR THE DEFENCE: 
My motto is, "Do unto others as you would have them do unto 
you." I would never do anything to someone that I wouldn't 
want them to do to me. I'm a very respectful type of person. 

 

HOWIE'S CONFESSION: 
I'm sick of Gummi Bears! A while back, I said I liked them, 
but then I got sent so many by fans that I was eating them 
every day. Now I'm like, "No more Gummi Bears!" I try to 
keep my figure, so I've got to stay away from chocolate, too. 

 

WE KNOW: 
His Spanish heritage has given him a reputation as a "Latin 
lover", but he says, "I've got more of a softer romantic 
style. I'm not like Rico Suave (old rapping smoothie) - I 
don't go around with big cuffs and collars!" 

 

THE DIRT ON NICK! 

Kevin: Nick's real young and hyper. I wish I could be as 
carefree as he is. The downside is that sometimes he doesn't 
want to do the serious stuff. My way of winding Nick up is 
to correct him in front of everybody. He's the clumsiest in 
the group. That's because he's grown so much in the past 
year - like, three feet! ( He's only 19 and already six foot two!) 

Brian: He's like the little brother I never had. I can teach 
him and help him with things. He's come a long way and he's 
very mature for his age. If I was doing the things he's 
doing at 16, I don't think I'd have handled it as well. But 
he's very competitive when we play sport. I'm a little bit 
better than him at basketball right now, but when we play, 
he plays so hard that he gets frustrated. He's also really 
tall though so sometimes he can kick my ass if i rub it in 
too much. He reminds me of myself when I was that age. Even 
now, I'll get mad when he beats me in a Nintendo game. 

A.J: Nick's a real prankster. Last tour, he put a sock filled 
with different odds and ends that really stank (he won't 
reveal the exact contents) behind the drums, and during the 
show, it started smelling real bad. Revenge is being plotted 
as we speak... 

Howie: He's full of energy when he wants to be, but he 
doesn't always know how to focus his energy. He's also very 
grumpy in the mornings, and when he gets in his nagging 
moods, being young, he slaps you around the head! Worst of 
all, he totally hogs the Nintendo! 

 

NICK'S CASE FOR THE DEFENCE: 
I admit it - I am addicted to Nintendo! I play sports games 
and adventure games and role-playing like Final Fantasy 3. I 
can't always do what I want to do, like play basketball, 
because I can't go outside the hotel. So when I play 
Nintendo, I enter a different world and relax. 

 

NICK'S CONFESSION: 
I don't have tons of friends. I just have these guys and a few pals from Orlando. 

WE KNOW: 
He listens to country music! Then again, he listens to 
everything! This is what we found in his CD case: AC/DC, 
Bone Thugs 'N' Harmony, Oasis, Kriss Kross, Prince, Tom 
Petty, Jodeci, N-Trance, Lenny Krawitz, Mary J 
Green Day and Nirvana. 

------------------------------------

BSB Fan Conference Transcript
Thanks to ~*~TaZzDrAgoN~*~ for transcribing this!

Caitlin introduces the BSB Boys converse over being live on the internet. 

Brian: Hello Internet! 

Rest of BSB: Hi! 

Caitlin introduces first caller from Stockholm, Sweden. 

Caller: ----------- *no audio* 

A.J.: um, hello! 

A.J.: *louder* hellooo! 

Caller: Hello. 

A.J.: Hi! 

One of the Boys. Kevin I think: Hi! 

Brian: Hello 

Caller: *laugh* hello 

Nick: Hello? 

Brian: Do you have a question for us? 

Caller: um, oh yes. um, if you could change the world, what would you change? 

Boys: wow. 

Nick: I had a um... I think that a lot of the worlds problems have to do with weapons. Ah, we don't usually try to get politically involved ya know, in all the stuff that goes on, but um I think if there was one thing that I could change was I would have everybody get every single type of weapon ever made and just ship it to the moon and they'd never see them again. 

One of the boys. Howie I think: good answer Nick. 

Nick: playfully says thank you! 

A.J.: Uh, If I could...if I could change the world I'd probably, uh, there would be no segregation between races...there would be no doubt....there would be no racism. Um, of any race, of any culture, anyone could go and sit down in the same restaurant together and there'd be no kind of discrimination. Um, just there'd be no poverty, there'd be no poor people..there'd be no rich people..everybody would just be in the same class. Everybody would be treated equally. Thank you. 

Caitlin announces next caller from South Carolina. 

Caller: Hello?!? 

Boys: Hello? 

Caller: How are ya'll? 

Boys: Good and how are you? 

Caller: Oh fine thanks, o.k. um, I want, my question is how did you come up with the name 'Millennium' for the new album and where was the video shot for I Want It That Way? 

Pause from Boys. deciding who's going to answer the question. 

Boys: Come on Rok. 

Brian: Well we decided on 'Millennium' being the title of our album due to the fact that we are approaching the 'Millennium' , time wise I think...um we wanted to pick something that would take us through the Millennium and be very symbolic for timewise for the area of the World that we are in right now. Um, we tossed around a couple of different ideas... we almost..we came very close to choosing 'Larger Than Life' which happens to be the first cut on our album, 'Millennium', but we didn't want people to get the wrong idea *waves hand around* based on Larger Than Life--a Backstreet Boys Album.... it's actually an anthem song to our fans. So we decided to chose 'Millennium.' We thought it would be the best groupwise I think *looks at Boys* as we chose it. Uh, IWITW, the video was shot in Los Angeles in the airport there. We spent all afternoon. We also filmed it in the green-screen studio were we shot a lot of green-screen work and computer work graphic wise. The shots that you see when we're in the airport we're in our white outfits ..your actually looking through us. That was shot on a green-screen and we finished it up late at about 3:00 in the morning at the Los Angeles Airport so it was a lot of fun. 

Caitlin announces next caller from Tasmania, Australia 

Nick: Wow 

Kevin: Tasmania.. 

Caller: Hi? 

Boys: Hello Laura. How are you? 

Caller: I'm pretty good. how are you? 

Boys: Good. Thanks for calling. *actually, either Brian or Kevin said that..not sure* 

Caller: Um, what will you be doing at 11:59pm. on Dec. 31st, 1999? 

A.J.: Well uh, celebrating New Years with our families hopefully. We haven't been home, or not working for the last couple of years doing work. We've been working for like the last three or four years on New Years or we've been traveling somewhere in the world but hopefully this year at 11:59pm on Dec. 31st we'll be at home with our families just having a great time or all five of us would be together with all of our families somewhere at somebody's house just having a good time bringing in the Millennium together. 

Nick: I'm a strong believer in... I mean I think that this is, ya know, the turn of the century and it only happens in so many peoples lives. I think that this is definetly, ya know, like A.J. said, a time when you need to be with your family and just celebrating it with the people that you just love because...cause it only happens once...every so often. *chuckles* 

Caitlin announces next caller from Ohio. 

Caller: Hi! 

Boys: Hey! Hello! 

Caller: What's the most embarrassing moment on stage? 

Kevin: What? 

Boys restate the question for him. 

Howie: Wow. I got a bunch of 'em. Where do I start? There was a time where I once fell on the stage..one where I fell off the stage...and uh... 

Nick: Well tell 'em what happened. 

Howie: I think the most embarrassing was probably when I fell off the stage though. Um, when I was on this ramp part, me and Nick were on top of it when A.J. was doing the rap in the middle of Get Down and Nick didn't notice I was there next to him... 

Nick: It was only so big, ya know? 

Howie:... and uh Nick actually threw his hand up and kinda caught me and I kinda fell off the stage and luckily there was a security guard right there, thank God, and he kinda caught me in his arms. He was like, *looks up* "Whoa." 

Nick: Tell 'em the other part... 

Howie: I was just prayin' like the whole time that I didn't hit my head. I was like "Oh God please let there be some sort of a little pillow or something atleast to catch me and luckily I had a security gaurd..like a big teddy bear to catch me instead. That was pretty embarrassing though. One time Kevin fell on a pack of cigarettes on stage once. 

Kevin: Yeah. Somebody threw a pack of cigarettes up on stage and I found them with my foot and..busted my butt. 

Boys laugh. 

Nick: Remember that time when um, at Sea World. 

A.J.: That was me. Someone..we did a show at Sea World probably about four years ago and uh, it was wet because they had a bunch of dry ice on stage as well. It was mixed with this rain curtain that was a special effect for one of the Sea World shows and we came runnin' out and I hit a patch of water or somethin' on stage and my foot got turned around backwards basically..so it kinda hurt pretty bad but I had to put an air? cast on for the next day after that day we were flying..or actually that night after that show we had to fly to uh Malaga? and so I was with this air cast on a plane for 23 hours so that was pretty fun. 

Caitlin announces next caller from California 

Caller: Hey guys! 

Boys: Hello Rebbeca. 

Caller: This is like, the best birthday present I've ever gotten. OMG. 

Kevin: It's your birthday? 

Caller: Yeah, um, its on Thursday. 

Boys: *mixed comments* oh, well happy birthday early. 

Caller: Oh, thanks. Um, my question is I'm taking a drama class in college and sometimes I get nervous in front of a big crowd of people and I was wondering if and when you do get nervous, how you deal with your nervousness? 

Kevin: Usually, if we just go behind the stage and throw up it helps alot. *guys laugh* No I'm just kidding.Um, I don't know. It seems like for smaller more intimate groups of people I get more nervous. Um, it's like when you have a big huge audience it like almost..its like you can get lost in that, but when your in front of a smaller group of people its kinda like your right there. Um, just say a prayer and take a deep breath and go for it. Have confidence and believe in yourself and as long as you've done your homework go for it. *pause* Anybody else got any words of advice...words of wisdom? *pause* Think that's it. Good question though. 

Caitlin announces next caller from Puerto Rico 

Boys say hello in espanol. 

Caller: My question is if you never got the chance to be in the music business what would you have done? 

Kevin asks again what the question was. 

Guys repeat the question. 

Howie: I would personally be involved in the entertainment field some way or another. Doing some acting, or producing, or writing music. Uh, something like that I'd probably do. 

Nick: I'd probably be doing something...I'd be..probably getting into college right about now and um, probably doing some type of sports thing maybe playing basketball. But um, just like Howie too. Probably find myself in the entertainment business somehow. Um, doing singing or acting of some sort. *shruggs* 

Kevin: I would uh, I would definitely probably somehow be involved in music. Um, writing, producing, doing something. Maybe acting, maybe teaching, music. I don't know. 

Brian: I would probably be a school teacher. Possibly a physical education teacher or a music teacher. Um, just because I know. I've taken with me experiences through my life that teachers have really helped me with... grow from. And they've been a major, major influence on me as a person as well as in my career so I would probably be a teacher so that I could do that to younger kids as well. 

A.J.: Um, I would probably still be into acting, or singing, or dancing. One of my dreams when I was growing up when I was dancing with the b...woulda...woulddab...would be..yeah, thats right *he messed up* would be to be dancing with Janet Jackson or Micheal Jackson on tour somewhere...that was one of my childhood dreams when I was dancing, but uh, maybe doing some acting or movies hopefully always playing the bad guy and , if I got the chance, I would like to teach like a drama workshop or some kinda workshop about acting or like inprov? or something like that. I'd think it'd be fun. 

Caitlin announces next caller from North Carolina 

Caller: Hello. 

Boys: Hello. Hey. 

Caller: I was wondering if you guys were as excited about your new album as I am and about 10 million other people are and are you anxious to see what response the album gets? 

Kevin: We're very excited about our new album. 

Brian: Oh yeah. Tomorrow's a big day for us. 

Kevin: I didn't understand the last part of it. *the question again* 

Brian: Can you say that again please? 

Caller: *laughs* Are you a little anxious to see what response the album gets? 

Brian: I'm very anxious to see what response the album gets. 

Kevin" Definitely. Um, were proud of the album. We hope everybody likes it as much as we are proud of it. We've worked really hard on it. Um, there are some tracks on their that we wrote on and uh...We're just really proud of the project. We think it's our best work yet and we hope everybody out there feels that way as well. 

Caitlin introduces next caller from Dublin, Scotland 

Caller: Hi! 

Boys: Hello! 

Caller: Hi. My question is what is the most romantic thing that you have ever done for a girl or girlfriend? 

Kevin: Most romantic thing? 

Nick: Yep. 

Boys: Hummm... 

Nick: Go'head Brian. 

Brian hesitates so Kevin takes it. 

Kevin: I brought breakfast to a girl I was dating one time. She had a uh doctors appointment she was dreading so I got up at like 5AM and prepared some stuff and put it in the car and went to her door step, prepared it, had some fresh flowers, had some fresh grapefruit, orange juice, bagel and some strawberry cream cheese...her favorite stuff and uh... 

Brian: mockingly awwwws 

Kevin: ...knocked on the door and handed it to her she liked that alot *chuckles*. 

A.J.: I uh, attempted one night to make spaghetti at my house for my girlfriend.. 

Brian's laughing. 

A.J.:...at the time. I made about enough sphagetti to feed all of Africa..so I uh, I just ya know, I tried my hardest to cook it and it was soggy and wet noodles...it wasn't quite right...I didn't do a good job but I tried..So uh, that was probably the most romantic thing I've ever done up to date..but it turned out good and everybody liked it and... so they said unless they lied to me so... 

Nick: I uh tried the cooking experience too. It didn't quite go so well because uh, I'd been turning out late trying to work something and uh, I went to the store and got some seafood. And ya know, I love seafood so I decided to cook some uh, crab legs..boiled crab legs, ya know... 

Boys: laughing and snickering. 

Nick: ...and uh, you don't want to hear the rest so.... they didn't taste too good...so go ahead on. 

Howie: I think I've tried the cooking thing to also.So um, then afterwards I took my car to the airport and watch like the planes take off...theres a .....uh, highway near the airport where you can actually pull over and watch the planes take off so thats was about it. 

Kevin: What'd you guys do while you were watching the planes take off? 

Nick: Yeah. What'd ya do Howie? 

Howie: We kinda just talked.. 

Guys start laughing. 

A.J.: Just talk. O.K. 

Kevin and all the rest of the guys look over at Brian. 

Kevin: Brian? 

Brian: What? Oh, my turn? I had a uh, highschool sweetheart at the time and I went to her school and broke in her locker and... yes, I broke in her locker... 

A.J.: rebellious? *I think that's what he said* 

Brian: Laughs. ..and I put a dozen roses in her locker and they had these little stick up note pads and I wrote little notes and messages to her and put some stuff on her antenna out on her car in the parking lot so... 

Nick: mockingly awwws. 

Brian: ....so little things like that. Just like a trail all the way out when she left school. 

Kevin: Did you get arrested? 

Brian: I didn't get arrested. I didn't get arrested for breaking in her locker. 

Caitlin introduces next caller from Oregon 

Caller: Hi you guys. 

Boys: Hello! 

Caller: One girl pretty much asked the question I was going to ask, but if you were not famous singers what would you be doing in the world today? 

Kevin missed the question AGAIN! A.J. Informs him. *LOL* 

A.J.: Well, uh, ... 

Brian: Have ya been tuned in? 

A.J.: Have ya been tuned in? 

*I'm not typing that out again! *L* so read up! It's the same answer that they said before. 

Highlights though: A.J. thinks villains are the best part of the movie...Kevin wouldn't mind being a choir instructor or teach music... 

Caitlin introduces next caller from Germany 

Boys: Hello? 

Caller: Hello? 

Boys: Hello. 

Caller: Hello. My question is what would you do if you were *not understood as to hat was said, Nick? 

Kevin: What? 

A.J.: What would you do if...?* still not understood* 

Nick: Could you repeat the question again? 

Caller: What would you do if you were in-------for a day? 

Nick: Could you repeat that one more time?? 

Kevin: What would you do if you were invisible for a day? Was that what the question was? Is that it? 

Caller: Yeah. 

Nick: She asked me? 

Boys: Yeah. 

Nick: Oh, uh, I don't know. I think I'd uh.... I'd go interrupt an NBA final basketball game I'd jump on the court and be hittin' balls away from them or tripping people or something like that on national television. That'd be kinda cool. Don't you think? 

Boys: Yeah. Funny Nick. 

Caitlin introduces next caller from Florida 

Caller: Hi! 

A.J.: HEY! FLORIDA! HEY! 

Caller: Um, my question is for Kevin. Is you had one day to live what would you do? 

Nick: You would just sing your heart out. 

Kevin: Wow! 

One of the Boys: What was the question? 

Kevin: If I had one day to live, what would I do? Whew! Um, I'd probably just uh, gather all my family and friends in one room and uh, throw a big party. *shrugs* Probably what I'd do. 

Boys laugh a bit. 

Caitlin introduces next caller from Ohio 

Caller: Hello? 

A.J.: Hello! 

Caller: O.K. My questions for A.J. A.J. would you prefer boxers or briefs? 

Everyone starts laughing. 

A.J.: Do I prefer boxers or briefs? 

Nick: Give your true answer A.J. 

A.J.: I know Howie's gonna answer it so... 

Howie: You want me to answer it? 

Nick: It's the truth though! 

Kevin: We don't want to know the truth. 

A.J.: On an everyday basis when were doing shows or doing whatever I prefer boxers but when I sleep....neither. 

Room laughs again. 

Howie: That's A.J. for ya ladies and gentlemen. 

Caitlin introduces the next caller from Michigan 

Caller: Hi! 

Boys: Hello. 

Caller: How are you? 

Boys: Good. How are you? 

Caller: Oh I'm just peachy. My question is for Howie. Is you could fix any of the worlds problems using your fame and influnece, what would you fix and why? 

Howie: If I could what? 

Kevin: Any of the worlds problems what would you do and why? 

Howie: Hum............................... good question.....................I think I would...try to find a cure to all the diseases out there um, cause there are so many diseases out there that are so we're still far behind in medicine especially in America here finding the cures to a lot of diseases. Um, one of the reasons why... I set up a foundation for Lupus because my sister passed away from the disease lupus and I'm trying to raise money to find as much research and knowledge upon the disease just to help other people prevent having to go through the same lost that I went through. But like I said there are so many diseases out there and if I could do one difference in the world by trying to do charity work or whatever. That's actually one of the reasons why we talked about setting up a Backstreet Boys Fight the Diseases. A uh, actual foundation we're actually talking about setting up by getting other artist involved and even possibly doing like an live aid kinda concert or us hosting it. So those are the kinda things I'd do with our success. Ya know, use or fame to help raise money and to contribute to those kind of communities in the world. That means a lot to me. 

Caitlin introduces next caller from Pennsylvania 

Caller: Hi! 

Boys: Hello! What's up Dawn? 

Caller: If you..this is for Brian...If you could redo anything from your past what would it be and what would you do to make it right? 

Brian: Wow. That's a good question. *long pause*.... If I could redo anything in my past to make it right? *long pause again* Ya know....I'd......I kinda gotta talk around this one because....not to sound really egotistical..I've had a lot of good guidance, uh, throughout my life. I've taken some wrong steps here and there, but um, I've been very very very fortunate to have the family that I have behind me. Uh, the things that I've been through in life. Um, me as a person, I think I would I would maybe take back ,on a business level, I might take back a few steps in the beginning in the very very very beginning of our careers as a group. There are things that I look back on that I wish I could change that have been changed since then. Um, everything is looking so great and everything is looking so good about the new album, but you can't really change the past, but if I could for myself esteem and my uh...outlook and well-being I would change a couple things that happened in the beginning but as of right now everything looking on the up and up so we're happy. 

Caitlin introduces the next caller from Denmark 

Caller: Hello? 

Kevin: Hello Carina. 

Caller: This question is directed to Kevin. O.K. Um where do you see yourself ten years from now? 

A.J. and Brian in an old mans voice: 38...37....married and livin' on a farm.... 

Kevin: *laughs* Wow. Hum...hopefully, uh, ten years from now I'd like to be uh, starting or already started a family..uh, be married and maybe have a family. I come from... I have two older brothers..I had a great childhood. and I definitely want kids and a family. So, I might be livin' out in a stick?*not sure what he said* somewhere writing music in my basement in my own studio just uh, writing music and a family..who knows? 

Caitlin announces the LAST caller from Georgia 

A.J. and Kevin pronounce it Geogia with an accent... 

Caller: Hey fellas how or ya? 

Boys: Good. How are you? 

Caller: Good. Thanks. 

Nick breaks out into a rendition of 'Georgia on My Mind' 

Caller: Um, let's see...Nick, in a world when life total success can be chaos, up as well as down, what scares you? And guys break a leg on your upcoming tour and God bless you all. 

Boys: Thank you very much. 

Nick: Sorry about the question. Could you repeat that again? 

Caller: repeats the question. 

Nick: Um,.... 

Kevin: I'll help you translate for ya. *I think that's what he says* 

Nick: thank you Kevin. I think its not really scary, but what the future holds for the world itself. I think that being the fact we don't think about the things that we do..ya know with having wars and small things that affect the world. Like pollution..small things like that will eventually lead up to big things. I think that kinda scares me to realize that not many people think about these things. Uh, I for one am a strong believer in living your day in now...not to think about the future but to just...I do suggest that everyone starts thinking about the future because, ya know, our kids, or generation for the future ya know, they havta live in this world and ya know, we'd want everybody to live healthy and have a good time, just like we are. *shrugs* 

Caitlin: O.K. This is a question that we came up with. Do you ever wear disguises when you go out so you can go un recognized? 

Brian: I don't cause I can't. 

Kevin: A.J. has his on right now. 

A.J.: This is about as close as I can get to my type of disguise. Me personally, I probably could if I took off all my jewelry, all my earrings, shaved, and I wore cloths that really fit me tight...which would be really scary actually...but.. 

Room laughs 

A.J.: ...um I've gone out and tried...I've tried putting on a baseball cap, wearing long sleeves, no jewelry, even shaven my goatee off but it doesn't even seem to help then. Me personally, I really don't mind the attention, don't mind going out and being reconized..it doesn't bother me. Sometimes if it gets a little out of hand where you can't even sit down in a mall and have lunch or something or whatnot..it kinda gets a little freaky cause ya know... I can think back four or five years ago everyday I'd look like everybody else..I've kinda blended in, but now I kinda stick out like a green thumb so I don't mind it. It's cool. 

Brian: I wore a big afro one time and uh, when we were shopping in Europe and uh, had a hat on over it and we were in Kentucky Fried Chicken... And these girls *laughs* came up to us and said "Oh hey Brian! How ya doin'? Can we take a photo with you?" and I was like "Uhhh, yeah sure." So but uh..it was like pahh *think how a huge afro looks under a bball cap* but uh, I've tried before but it doesn't really work. *rooms laughing* Teenagers are keen on that. 

Caitlin: And this is the last one I'm gonna read. Um, can my brother Connor challenge you or Nick to a game of Quake or Nintendo? 

Boys: I'm sure Nick would love that! 

They ask where Connor is and find him in the audience. Connor slinks down into his chair. 

Nick: Oh that's you? He stands up and says in a stern voice..."you're on!!!" 

Boys and room laugh. 

Kevin: Is that it? 

Caitlin: Yeah that's it. 

Boys: Everybody give her a big round of applause! Thank you to all the callers... 

Kevin: We're gonna go have some lunch cause I'm starving! 

--------------------------------

BSB Answer 20 Questions
Q: What's going on with the new Backstreet Boys album?
KEVIN: We're going to launch the new album in the spring--we'll have a single out in January or February, and then the album by March, or at the latest, the first week of April. We'll be traveling around to different places and then we'll start touring again--Germany, the UK, South America and Southeast Asia. We're definitely coming back to the United States, too!

Q: Has success been all you expected?
A.J.: You find that you can do things that you never thought you could do--and not even big things, just simple things that you always wanted to do that you find a little bit easier to do now. And you can kind of get better Christmas presents for your family and stuff.
HOWIE: When I was growing up, I remember thinking about artists I liked, and I thought they woke up in the morning whenever they wanted to and they did what they wanted all day. But it's a lot more work than that. The traveling, the touring, the press--there's so much going on all at once.

Q: There has been some talk about some of the Boys doing solo projects. What does this mean for the future of the BSB?
A.J.: This is going to be a long-term thing. The five of us are like brothers and family. That's what the public wants to see and that's just the way it's going to stay for a while. I don't think you'll ever see four Backstreet Boys or two Backstreet Boys. I'll always be the five of us.

Q: How do you guys get ready for a performance?
KEVIN: Before a show we normally do a vocal warm-up to get the chords ready, and stretch out a little bit. And then we all join hands with our production [crew], the management and our band and we say a little prayer and give thanks for the opportunity to perform and just ask that the show goes well. And then we hit the stage. That's how we do it.

Q: When you're home at Florida, where do you like to hang out?
NICK: I go staight to Tampa, since that's where I live. I've been living there for a while. I just chill with my family and do normal kid stuff.
KEVIN: I like to check out the local music scene downtown [in Orlando]. I like to hear live bands. Lately I've been checking out this swing band downtown. We like to listen to music and go to clubs because that inspires us as far as new dance moves. Different types of music inspire us to write songs and stuff.

Q: If you could meet anyone from the past or present, who would it be and why?
HOWIE: I'd like to meet the Pope.
KEVIN: I would like to have a conversation with Elvis. I would just like to talk with him and just get his feedback on what he went through, and, you know, talk about music.
NICK: I'd say maybe an older President from the past, like Lincoln or someone like that. It'd be cool to talk to him.
A.J.: I'd say Sammy Davis, Jr. He was one of my idols when I was growing up when it came to dancing with his whole tap dancing act and the Rat Pack with him, Dean Martin, Frank Sinatra, and all those guys. They were just really cool.

Q: Nick, do you see any of yourself in your brother Aaron?
NICK: I definitely see that stride, that urge of him wanting to do it, to be just as successful as I wanted to be back then.

Q: Touring can be stressful. How do you keep yourselves healthy on the road?
A.J.: We just normally try to hit the gym. When we're on the road and we can't make it into the gym, the stage keep us in pretty good shape.

Q: What do you miss most when you're on tour?
HOWIE: Our families. That's what I'd say I miss the most. Our families, our home-cooked meals, our own beds. I bring my book bag all the time, which is my house. I have my boom box. Sometimes I bring out my little laptop. And I bring a nice AT&T calling card.

Q: What's your most embarrassing moment?
BRIAN: I kicked one of my shoes off on stage once during a fast dance routine and had to hop around on one foot until Kevin made his way across the stage to get it for me.
NICK: Once onstage I almost ran off the end of a runway and had to stop myself. I landed on my rear end hard!

Q: Did you always want to be a singer?
BRIAN: I think everyone's here for a reason. To do something natural, which for me is singing and being a ham on stage. But to be a singer--to do something I love, to go to work every day and do something that I enjoy--that's what i was looking for.

Q: What would be your perfect date?
NICK: I would take her out to the beach at night. There would be a full moon with a bunch of stars out. The sand would be pure white, beautiful and soft. The ocean would be very calm with the moonlight shining off the water.

Q: What gets you most excited about performing? 
BRIAN: You glance into the audience, and the lights go out, and the lighters come on...It's just such a fulfillment inside, seeing all those people. Then you look out and they're singing every word for every song--it's like, they came to see us? Then you're excited.

Q: What do you love most and least about being a Backstreet Boy?
HOWIE: Getting a chance to travel around the world to see new places, see new cultures, try new foods. Um...the worst thing is being away from our families.

Q: Who do admire musically?
KEVIN: I've always loved Prince's music. I like the Eagles, Van Halen, Aerosmith, Elton John, Billy Joel, Boyz II Men, New Edition--I have a really wide variety of musical tastes. I just love music, so it depends on what mood I'm in. I like alternative. I like rock and country. I really like it all!
HOWIE: I like Jon Secada, Phillip Baily for Earth Wind & Fire, and Al B. Sure. I like a lot of artists.

Q: What do you think it is about the Backstreet Boys that the fans find so special?
BRIAN: What you see is what you get. We're five solo artists put together and we love what we do.
A.J.: We're real. That's what makes us special, being real. We have nothing to hide.

Q: How do you decide which songs to record?
HOWIE: We have a lot of say so, but the record company usually uses it good judgment about what fits for us. Then amongst the five of us, we decide if something is right for us, because we don't want to do something that's not us. You gotta feel comfortable.

Q: What's your best habit?
BRIAN: Making people laugh.
NICK: I treat people the way I want to be treated, and I try to keep my friendships intact when I'm gone.

Q: How do you feel when you hear tyour music on the radio?
BRIAN: It still takes me by surprise. I was in my jeep at home and I turn on an easy listening station and hear a mix of "Quit Playin' Games" that I've never heard before. It had more piano and more guitar. I got cold chills. It's like, how many times have I heard it, but at the same time, it doesn't grow old.

Q: What advice do you have for young people trying to get into show business?
A.J.: If you've got it in your heart and deep in your soul, there's a reason for it. I think anyone who wants to get into this business should definitely do it. They have to be willing to be competitive. It's a very competitive business. But I think the more people who are involved in it, the more people will understand us. Follow your dreams, your heart and your souls! That's pretty much what I've done.

----------------------------------

Interview with Nick & Brian
Being part of a group has a lot of perks; success, fame, money and instant friends to name a few. Backstreet Boys Brian Littrell and Nick Carter know just how important good friends really are. Despite a five year age difference, the singers are the best of friends. "We're always hanging out together. It's hard to say exactly why we get on so well...our personalities just seemed to have clicked," says Nick.
Nicknamed as Frick and Frack, the two Boys share a mutual admiration. Being the youngest member of the group, Nick looks up to Brian. Does Brian feel pressured about being one of the biggest influences on Nick's life? Absolutely not; he couldn't be more pleased. "Nick is like the kid brother I never had," says Brian. "I'm proud of him, he's my little frack!"
Well, Nick has an equal amount of good things to say about Brian. Whereas sometimes fame can swell a person's head, Brian has remained levelheaded and down-to-earth. "He's totally styed the same," says Nick. I think we're all coping well, to be honest." And the only thing that ever throws Brian for a 'hoop.' Basketball. He's crazy about the game and at one time, even had hopes of playing in the NBA.
So, do these two share similar opinions on love and romance? You bet. Brian is a very caring and understanding person and has no problem displaying his emotions. Nick thinks of himself as a down-to-earth, ordinary guywho puts on no false pretenses. Despite their pop star status, both guys still enjoy the simple things in life. Brian's idea of a good night is having dinner with a special lady and cuddling up with a good movie. Nick's ideal night would include tons of food, computer games and his family. Whether they're harmonizing a love song, hanging out or just being silly, Brian and Nick are always in perfect sync.

Who's had the biggest influence on your life?
N: Frick
B: Thanks, Frack. Actually, that's probably not too far from the truth. I've maybe not had the BIGGEST influence on him, but perhaps a major influence over the last three and a half years, when he's done most of his growing up. So it's probably been me and his parents.

Is Nick a good role model for the younger fans?
B: Occasionally! No, to be honest, I think he's done really well. Being in this position as young as he is, he's handled everything that's come his way like a grown man.

Would Brian make a good boyfriend?
N: Ooh, that's a tricky one. I guess so, particularly if the girl was like me, ha ha! She'd have to be full of energy and enjoy doing active things like playing Nintendo. But he's a caring kinda guy--I reckon if he found the right girl, he'd do anythingfor her.

What sort of girls does he like?
N: He likes Pamela Anderson and Sandra Bullock.
B: While Nick likes the real dark haired girls--the total opposite of him.

Which song is Brian most proud of?
N: He loves "I'll Never Break Your Heart," but hmmm...what else?
B: I don't know if I should say my ones, but I'm really proud of "Quit Playing Games."
N: Yeah, of course. You do pretty well on that one--then again, I do too! Don't I?

What's most important to him--love, fame or money?
N: That's a tricky one. They've all got their place I suppose.
B: C'mon Frack! It's an easy one!
N: Oh yeah, that's right, it'll be love.

---------------------------------

JOHN NORRIS: A year ago, when I spoke to you guys here in New York, you were just coming off of a Wal-Mart tour. Now you're in Radio City Music Hall. It must be nice playing at a legendary place.

NICK CARTER: It's a lot different than Wal-Mart. 

BRIAN LITTRELL: From parking lots to Radio City. 

NICK: What we were actually able to do was go into each individual city and just take our time with the people. We went into Wal-Mart and we signed stuff for them, so it was really personal, that was the best thing about it. 

KEVIN RICHARDSON: Thanks to the cooperation of the radio stations just giving our music a chance; and letting the people hear it; and requests; and MTV, you guys coming along and pumping our videos, everybody just really. 

NORRIS: How are things going with the tour?

KEVIN: Great. The crowds are incredible, the response is incredible, the energy that we get from the crowd. 

NORRIS: And you've got three opening acts tonight?

ALL: Yeah.

NORRIS: Is that for pretty much the whole tour? And one you're pretty acquainted with (referring to Nick's brother), how did that come about? 

NICK: I think, it was just the fact that I had presented it to the guys. My little brother has been doing some stuff for a little over a year or two, and it was...he's a great little performer so they said it was all right. He has an album out over in Europe so me and Brian actually wrote a song on his album, for his album, so that's kind of how -- besides me being his brother -- that's how we got acquainted. 

NORRIS: Comparing U.S. and say, European crowds, it has been said that American audiences are a little more tuned in to the music, they're not just screaming from start to finish, they're actually listening. 

NICK: Definitely, I feel that that's when you're up on stage, you can tell that they're listening, but then it gets to a point sometimes where they just go bezerk still, but that's cool. We love that, but yeah, they're a little more focused and listening and I think that's just all the music America's had in the past and in the present and everybody's just very wise towards music. 

A.J. MCLEAN: As well as the language barrier, which is obviously going to constrict our European fans from understanding what we're really saying. They still sing along, which is kind of cool to watch a bunch of girls in Germany sing every single word to our songs. They might not know what it really means, but here in the U.S. the fans are a little more attentive as to what's going on around them. 

KEVIN: Also, here, they're not as crazy, they're more laid back. In Europe they tend to get a little more hysterical, especially in the countries...When we went to South America for the very first time, we went to Chile and they were, how many, what 2,000 people at the airport and outside the hotel there were 7,000 people and we thought Michael Jackson was staying there or something. It was crazy. 

NORRIS: Now, obviously summertime is a big touring season here and certainly there are rock tours out there and they're hip-hop tours, but when you guys; Spice Girls; Hanson; artists with that orientation--fan-based, are doing as well as you're doing, what's happening in music do you think?

NICK: I think it's a cycle that's coming back around or has come and is staying for a while. 

HOWIE: Pop music's coming back.

BRIAN: That's just the way that I feel about it personally. There's just phases and there's phases that come through just like rap and when the Backstreet Boys first hit the market in '95, people were like, "who, what, what kind of music is this?" and it was a shock. And that's why we were like number 68 or 69 on the top 100 and now we've had four singles that have been released off the album and look at it, it's just amazing. 

BRIAN: And those are songs that we recorded three or four years ago. I was like 19 when we did some of the records. I'll be 24. 

NORRIS: So you mentioned pop making a come back and yet for some reason, tell me if you have any thoughts on this, I think they recently had a chart of the first-half of the year and the Backstreet Boys album is the number three seller in this country for the first half of 1998, and there were people in the office like, "Wow, I didn't know it was that big." And a group like the Spice Girls get more mainstream media attention than you guys, do have any thoughts as to why? 

HOWIE: We're not here as much. When the Spice Girls came into the States, they hit it really hard. We've been spreading ourselves so much around the world that I guess there's still a hunger for the Backstreet Boys because we're not around as much on TV, and what's been covering us has pretty much been radio. That's what's been carrying our success. It's a gradual, slow approach we're taking with America and so hopefully we'll have long term careers instead of being a quick flash. 

A.J.: We want longevity and we want the respect from everyone as musicians and as artists. 

NICK: We want to be like one of the big groups, hopefully like the Beach Boys, the Eagles or something like that. That's our goal as a group. 

NORRIS: A lot of people forget that a group like the Beach Boys was a teen phenomenon when they first happened. And you talked a lot of broadening the fan base and eventually evolving. Do you see signs of that happening, or is that just hope at this point?

KEVIN: Definitely. In Europe and all over the world where we first started out three, four years ago with our music, our fan base is much older than it is here in the U.S. and when you first hear about the Backstreet Boys, and whatever stereotype you want to have, once you come see a show, once you listen to the album, you might have a different viewpoint of where we're coming from. I'm a 26-year-old and I like the music that we're doing and I think that our music can appeal to everybody. As we grow we want our music to grow, and I think that's the art behind it. Groups like New Edition started out with a young, young fan base and they grew when they made the transition with Bobby Brown, and Johnny Gill -- he took them to another level. They got a much more mature audience and I think it's just about growing and evolving with the cycles of music -- just like Madonna's done, just like Janet Jackson's done, and just like Michael Jackson's done. They all start out with a young fan base. Whenever we're asked that question about if our music is for younger people or older people we always bring up -- because it's a true statistic that we can be proud of -- that "As Long As You Love Me" has been in the top three of the adult contemporary charts for over six months. That's incredible. 

BRIAN: And "How Do I Break Your Heart" was just the number one most added to adult contemporary. So it's just like in a lot of the views, we take time. Kevin and I were looking in a magazine yesterday talking about the reports. You see people that are in the business that really take time to listen to a song to have an objective point of view about it and everything else they've heard up till then. They were saying about "I'll Never" that "this song will do for the Backstreet Boys what 'End of the Road' did for Boys II Men." I was like, yeah, let's see it, that's great. How much better could it get because that shows the growth slowly but surely.

NORRIS: Speaking of evolving, now that you're older and if the fan base is evolving, do you feel constrained to fit into a certain image, a certain perception of the wholesome kind of image that -- I see A.J.'s broken out of?

A.J.: I think as time goes on each of us has had an opportunity to grow into their own person as well as to grow as a team. You see people everyday, kids younger than us and kids our age constantly changing with the times. Kids are going to be experimental just like me. I'm not doing anything drastic like drugs and drinking -- that is totally ix-nay -- but changing my hair color or doing something like a tattoo or something like that is just a way of me expressing me. But when people come to our shows, hopefully they're coming to hear the music first. Hopefully, when they listen to us on the radio, they're listening to us, they're not going, "OK, this is what they look like, I don't want to buy something because of this or that." They're listening to the music first, it's not about the image. 

KEVIN: And we're not professing to be perfect, we're just five young guys trying to have fun and be successful and doing something that we love. 

NORRIS: I won't name the band that you guys hate being talked about in the same sentence as, however, I knew Donnie Whalberg, and I knew that he had a steady girlfriend for a couple of years during the time that he was in New Kids, and yet he never copped to that once on camera. So my question is, if there was a steady relationship going on, you wouldn't tell me if there was, would you? 

KEVIN: If there's one worthwhile mentioning, like if we've been together long enough, and it's important enough that I want to profess it to the world, then I'll do that. But if she feels comfortable with it, if she wants her private life, then... 

A.J.: You have to realize you're not taking away from your private life, but her private life. If she's walking out in public and people know her and they relate her to as "Oh, that's A.J.'s girlfriend," it could be a good thing or it could be a bad thing. But I think if it's artists that are together, sometimes that's looked upon differently than an artist that's with someone who's not an artist.

NORRIS: If she was she could probably handle the attention a lot better. 

A.J.: Exactly, and she would be used to being in the lime light all of the time. 

HOWIE: It takes a special person that's for sure. 

A.J.: A person that wants to put up with our schedule. We're all just looking for that certain one, it's just, we haven't found someone that can put up. 

NORRIS: So, there's nothing to this engagement thing then, right? 

BRIAN: Oh man, I cannot get away from that! The past three days people have been saying that, everybody just flipped out. 

NORRIS: So, where did that come from then? 

BRIAN: I have no idea. I have no idea. One of our managers came into the dressing room just day before yesterday and said, "Brian, how do you want me to address this," and I said and I quote, "I am not engaged," end quote. So, I'm not. If I was I'd be faithful and you would see a ring on my finger, no actually I wouldn't , so... 

NORRIS: What can people who haven't seen the show yet here in the States expect? Is it all the hits, are there some covers in there?

A.J.: It's one cover, it's all the hits, it's all the singles, stuff from the next album.

HOWIE: We take a little time out to do a solo, hear what we individually sound like.

KEVIN: Some stuff from the European album that people haven't heard as well, if they're really avid Backstreet fans they probably have the import and they've probably heard it before. 

HOWIE: We have a really cool stage, a six-piece band, a little bit of pyro here and there, and great lights. 

NORRIS: Night after night, do you guys ever have to psych yourselves or is it like, to avoid putting it on the automatic pilot every time you hit the stage, is every night a different night? 

A.J.: Every crowd...like when we're right there and the band kicks in with the intro and we're waiting backstage for our grand entrance, it's just like a grand entrance. By the way the crowd's reacting, by just hearing the band, if the crowd's screaming it just gets your adrenaline flowing. We're playing off the crowd, the crowd's playing off us. Every show's different. It's like playing our very first show, we never know what to expect, something different happens every night. 

NORRIS: I remember last year you were telling me the one kind of nice thing about having not really broken in the States yet was that you could come back here and at least sometimes you could walk the streets and maybe there were girls camped out at your house, but they were European girls. So now you have all the Americans after you too, is it like now you can't go anywhere? 

A.J.: It's getting there. I couldn't go see the premiere of "Armageddon" back in Orlando. I tried to go out to Pleasure Island back in Orlando and I had 30 Brazilian girls that recognized me, I had a bunch of U.S. girls that recognized me. It was weird. But it's weird because it's like about a year ago, before we released the album here, there were a couple of girls here and there. We might leave to go over to Chile or go over to Europe for a couple of months and come back and it has grown twice or three times the size, it's just like now staying in our hotel in New York, it's just like the fans outside the hotel came from two to five to 30. 

BRIAN: When we do Miami Arena and they drive five and a half hours back to Orlando following our bus, 15-car caravan, which the state police have to divert to different exits to get away from us, that's when it hits home.

HOWIE: It has definitely grown, like I said in Philly, like they said in Miami, places like that and also even back home it's like now even the American fans, it seems like they're getting in touch with the European fans and conversing back and forth to find out our addresses, so they get pen pals all over the world and tell each other where they are.

KEVIN: We have some European fans here on vacation touring with us. They spent their vacation following us around the different cities like from Germany, England, Canada. It's really cool, see signs "Germany in the House." 

NORRIS: So was, Brian, there any question that this U.S. tour would happen with the surgery happening and everything, were you confident that this tour would come off as planned? 

BRIAN: The U.S. tour was actually supposed to be a little sooner. It was supposed to be about a month sooner, but I delayed my surgery twice due to the fact of the European tour, got the doctor's OK, not my mom and dad's but the cardiologist's OK to go ahead with it and I decided to do that for the sake of the group and what we had already scheduled and stuff. 

NORRIS: So when was is postponed, was it last year that you had it postponed? 

BRIAN: I was supposed to have it in February, then it got moved like a month later and that was when the European tour was setting in and some people kind of freaking out a little bit so I decided to back it up. So with the U.S. tour happening, they planned the U.S. tour around my surgery so everybody had down time, everybody was flying all different places of the world recording with producers, demo and stuff for the new album, so they didn't have time off. 

NORRIS: So you've had this since you were a kid, but did you get worse recently, is that why you had to have the surgery?

BRIAN: Well, kind of what happened in the small little story...I was born with it, they found a heart murmur when I was six-weeks-old, they monitored it my whole life, I took really bad ill when I was five with a staff infection I wasn't supposed to live. Thank God I did and made it through that. Here I am, I became a Backstreet Boy, they monitored it, when I turned 18, Kevin called me, "Hey, why don't you come to Florida and sing with these guys that I know." Poof and here we are. 

NORRIS: Growing up, did you have to watch your activities, sports or dancing or anything like that? 

BRIAN: No, the doctors said I probably would but they said if I survived my infection when I was five that I probably wouldn't walk or do anything. Picked up a basketball at the age of six and that was kind of my sport but it's...God's been really good to me. I've had a lot of gracious years and the past two and a half years of traveling, of a lot of stress and a lot of different things, has taken a toll--it kind of just snuck up on me and I wasn't really having any symptoms or anything but I went to...I was full speed ahead like everybody else and then next thing you know, I was supposed to be in surgery for 45-minutes and I was under for two and a half hours because they found another hole that nobody knew about so, here I am. 

NORRIS: I would imagine that puts everything for you in a whole new light. 

BRIAN: Good family, and these guys were behind me so, here I am. You learn. I think I grew up a lot. I think within the six months that I was battling trying to get back on my feet knowing what was ahead thinking pretty soon I'm going to have to turn back on again and just like you said that automatic pilot, I'm going to have to be on stage and what's going to happen. So I had a lot of scary thoughts with that, but here we are a week into the tour and... 

NORRIS: Have you had to change anything, are you guys concerned? 

A.J.: He said he didn't really want to miss the U.S. tour, so we were just trying to figure a way to work around it to make...to get him situated first and then the tour can happen whenever but priorities are priorities and health comes first for any of us so...because it could happen to any of us, because we're all under the same schedule, granted Brian has a lot worse of a situation, but it could happen to any of us because the schedule was getting more and more tedious and it ain't gonna get any easier but it still, it's getting to be more and more fun, but it's getting more and more difficult as it goes on. 

BRIAN: The one thing I've learned is to manage that time. When we need to eat, leave me alone. I'm sorry, leave me alone. I want to eat because the doctor said I got to eat and at the age of 23 they were even finding fatty deposits in one of my arteries because of all the McDonalds food we eat.

NORRIS: Any solo careers on the horizon among you guys, do you see that happening?

ALL: No, not any time soon.

HOWIE: We always talk like we really look up to groups like New Edition, Boyz II Men are very successful as a unit. But still in time when each of us decide at one point that a couple of us maybe might want to get back into acting, a couple of us might want to do a solo or duet thing or whatever or work out with some of our families. You know we'll talk about it in time but right now its still very new, very fresh to us.

NICK: Honestly, it's all about communication. As long as we're all talking with each other and we have everything straight within ourselves. We can always decide in the future what we want to do. I think the reason why a lot of groups break up is they do something behind of a lot of people's backs and all of the sudden they don't tell them. And all of a sudden they're like screw... 

NORRIS: What did you just get handed yesterday?

BRIAN: Nick just got handed a 200-page script for a movie. If he chooses to do that, then cool.

NICK: But as long as your talking with each other you can all decide, and the best thing about that if your communicating is you can always come back together again and do something with like what I said like with the Eagles or something like that. I personally will think always no matter whatever happens we will always be the Backstreet Boys. And we'll always come back and be the Backstreet Boys.

NORRIS: So who of the five of you would want to do a solo career?

BRIAN: I think there are five people that would want to do a solo career.

A.J.: I think it's definitely going to happen someday but as of now the focus is just not really there, but we're a team as well as five individuals so we're all capable of doing a solo career because we're all equally talented so...

BRIAN: We goin' to be sitting in the audience at Radio City you know for the Grammys and all of those things. We got a lot of things we still got to accomplish as a group. 

NORRIS: You've already got two nominations with the video for "Backstreet's Back." How did this monster idea come about and was it your idea or the directors' ideas? 

NICK: It was already our idea. It was kind of funny because we had talked to our record company about it and they were like, "Uh, well you know we'll talk about it later." And then they came back and you know we got to thank you guys, 'cause it turned out to be a really great video and everything, so it was just really creative. And what we wanted to do was take like kind of like the Michael Jackson "Thriller" thing and make it just a little bit different, more of a 90's feel. You know, of a course little bit littler budget than that was with five guys you know and of course with the monster characters you know and have dancing in it. It was really fun. 

HOWIE: It got us back in our acting field which some of us did in the past so it was cool. 

KEVIN: But it was hard to convince the record label to do this video because it was a risk doing this type of treatment. If it wasn't done with the right budget, right costumes, the right choreography, the right set, it could come off really corny. And we wanted to support the record label. We wanted the budget, we wanted everything. And the record label wasn't sure if it was going to be a single that was going to be released world wide including the United States, so they weren't sure that they wanted to spend that much money on it and we were like, "Come on, do it, its a great idea. Give us a chance, it's a great idea lets work together, lets do this." And then afterwards they were thanking us because it was number one most requested on MTV request for like 13, 14 times something like that. 

NORRIS: You guys have been on the road for so long, is there any kind of appreciation for what you're doing now after having gone through the surgery? 

BRIAN: Well, I take time, I guess, smell the flowers so to say when it comes to enjoying my life. I don't get to...it's so easy, it's really so easy to get caught up in this business and caught up in everything around you and the people around you and the fans around you and its important to me to really keep my feet solid on the ground and just enjoy my life. I'm a human being, I'm no different than anybody else except I, you know, have the God given gift to sing and I got the chance to do it so...I'm lucky, so just like I said, I eat; manage my time; sleep and when I got to be on stage...You'll see tonight, I take a special time just to thank them for all their support.

-------------------------------

TV Hits - February 1998


Knockout!


Backstreet Boys may seem like the sort of nice boys you'd take home to meet your mum - but is it all a cover? We pose them some of the toughest questions in pop and watch the fists fly... or do they?

OK, so who's the toughest in the band? 
Nick: AJ doesn't let things bother him that much, but I guess all of us are tough at times... 
Brian: Different things affect different people, so I suppose we've all got a tough side. 
Howie: We all stand our ground as individuals. We won't let anybody push us around. 
AJ: But I feel in our position, if you don't like what someone's saying you walk away, you don't start a fight. You don't argue, you just be grown up about it and walk away... 

Are you tough enough to say no to things you've been told to do if you don't believe in them? 
Howie: I think it depends on the situation. We want to be successful so we listen to what people are saying, then we way it up between ourselves and if it's something we're totally against then we'll stand up and say no! 

But you seem to get on with everybody - do you ever get cross with people? 
Brian: Sure, everyone has their bad days. Sometimes you wake up on the wrong side of the bed and feel like being a grouch, but you try not to let it affect your life, particularly as our life is our career and our career is our life. 

What about you then, Nick - so you ever get fed up of people calling you the cute one? 
Nick: (going all sweet and coyly looking up from under his fringe) No way, I think it's great - I love the attention! 
Brian: Well, you know, he's the youngest, so he's always gonna get that, but I can promise you he doesn't mind at all - do you Frack? 

Have you ever had to get a bit tough with the fans? 
Kevin: Well, we've had to stop the show a couple of times and get everybody to step back and calm down to stop people getting hurt, and sometimes the fans take articles off your body. I've had a necklace ripped off, my earrings ripped out and once I had a ring taken off my finger. It was really sentimental to me and I was like, 'Please, whoever took my ring, please give it back to me!' Then our security guy, Randy, made an announcement that if someone gave the ring back he's give them backstage passes - and fortunately they did! 
AJ: I'm really shocked because of all the jangly stuff I wear, nobody's ever tried to take anything from me, except one time I got a bracelet torn off, but nobody's ever touched anything else - I just lose stuff on my own. 
Brian: We've had a lot of hats taken off us walking out of places! I remember once we were leaving a school in Germany and I was holding my cap on my head and somebody just grabbed it and started stretching it - I kept holding onto it, then the next thing I heard it go, cccrrcccchh (huge ripping sound)! I was real mad by that point, so I pulled it off my head and just threw it! I was like, 'You want it?' I mean, what can you do? Then another time we were running into a hotel and there were a load of girls coming down the street and this girl jumped right in my way! I couldn't go round her 'cause she was dead smack in the way. She went to reach for me to hug me, and I kinda just picked her up and kept running and then set her down again! I didn't want to be rude, but I was either gonna get hurt or send her flying! 
Nick: I remember one time I was running into a hotel and this girl actually jumped on my back! she had her arms round my neck and I just kept running! I got all the way to the elevator with this girl still hanging off my back, and Randy had to come and literally pick her off. It was real funny - she just wouldn't let go, and I'm there walking around with her stuck to me! 

You seem a lot cooler these days... 
Nick: It's not so much cool, it's just a bit more mature, because that's what's happening - we're all getting older and more grown up. Me, I'm not the same 13 year old I was when I started. We're all growing up and our music is getting older, too. The music will change a little bit at a time, but not too much as things are going great - they're really good right now! 

Do you ever worry that as you're moving on you're leaving your original fans behind? 
Howie: As we get older, our fans'll get older too, but we also hope we'll get some new younger fans and older ones as well! There's a lot of competition out there, so we have to make sure our look complements our music and find some way to keep it all fresh. 

But do you think your music's getting tougher? 
AJ: It's getting better! 
Brian: It's a lot more challenging for us! We've all gotten better at what we do, and in order to get better you have to challenge yourself to new levels, new heights, and that's important for us. Tour after tour you tend to grow really quickly - you don't want to get stuck in the same groove. 

Do you think one day you'll do the real hard, slamming, R 'n' B thing? 
Nick: We have done totally hardcore R 'n' B in the past, but it just didn't suit us! 
AJ: We can do it vocally, but it's not us! 
Brian: It's just not Backstreet, but saying that, maybe some day it will be, or maybe some day there won't be any R 'n' B music - maybe there'll be some Rap-Pop 'n' B or something! 
Kevin: People constantly put us in the boy band category, but I think we have a totally unique sound. 

A lot of bands often compare themselves to you... 
Brian: Well, I've listened to other songs that've come out after us from other groups that were around even before us, and some of the things I was hearing were sounding kinda familiar - you know what I'm saying? Not that we're bothered - I mean, it's a major compliment! 
AJ: It's cool they're influenced by us, whether it's the vocals, or the track, or just Backstreet sounds. 
Nick: What we do is different from everybody else so they want to take a bit of that, and that's OK. 

So, have there been any uncool moments in your career so far? 
Howie: Erm, some of the European photoshoots have been a bit, er, suspect! 
Nick: We've been asked if we're going to put out Backstreet Boys dolls, and we're like, 'Noooo!' That's one thing I don't think we'd ever do - dolls or lunchboxes or stuff like that. That's not the important thing to us - what you hear on the CD is the important bit. 
AJ: It'd be kinda cool, though - you could put Barbie with Brian or Barbie with Howie, you know? 
Brian: You can continue to make things better on a CD and it can last a long, long timem but somebody's gonna buy a doll and it can last, like, six months - then they'll wanna rip its head off and throw it away! 
Kevin: I mean, we sell merchandise, but we don't want to exploit it. We already have a good thing, anyway - Backstreet Back packs. They're great! 

Do you reckon other pop groups are scared of you? 
Howie: I don't think anyone's scared of us. I've read stuff about other pop groups looking up to us and that's like 'Wow!' To us it means so much when other artists respect our ability. It's a small community, the music world, and everyone's real close. 
AJ: I think we leave a pretty good impression with artists we meet. We make friends every day and I don't think we come off as anything but real, and I think people really respect us for that. 

Have you ever had any run-ins with other artists? 
AJ: Kev literally did run into someone... 
Brian: Kev was in a club back home one night, the music was pumping, it was very crowded, he was minding his own business, when this guy pokes him in the back, then pokes him again... 
Kevin: ...pushes... 
Brian: ...oh, he pushes you? And Kev turns around and says excuse me, then he realises it's Bobby Brown. He was trying to get by but he was being really rude... 
Kevin: He was so rude and pushy, and we exchanged a few words and almost got into a fight... 
AJ: Bobby Brown was in Orlando because he had to appear in court, about a guy he'd hit in another club... 
Kevin: Then he walked through with his posse and just tried to push me out of the way! 
Nick: He knew who Kevin was... 
Kevin: No he didn't - well, I don't think he knew who I was, and it was just rude whoever I was! 
AJ: I'd like to have a nice run-in with Gwen Stefani... 
TVH: AJ, you're obsessed! 
AJ: I know, I'm sick, aren't I?! 

So come on guys, do you reckon you could take Boyzone on in a fight? 
Kevin: We could take anybody on - would we win? Oh, yeah! Hey, are you trying to pick a fight? 
TVH: Er, course not! 
Brian: (in terrible English accent) 'Ere listen, Boyzone are nice lads - don't you start nuffin'! 
Nick: We could take nobody on, no problemo! 
AJ: We'll take anybody on, vocally, but not physically! 
Nick: Next time you see Boyzone, as them the same question... we're not going to answer until they do - we're not starting nothing! 
Kevin: Hey, we're nice guys, but if we have to get tough, we will! 

How do you get on with the other tough American artists, like Dru Hill and that? 
AJ: I'd really like to meet them as they're all the same age as us! 
Kevin: Our manager was telling us Teddy Riley of Blackstreet wanted us to tour with them here in the States - a Blackstreet versus Backstreet tour, not as in a fight, but a promotional thing... 
AJ: It'd be the street tour! 

Do you all look out for each other? 
AJ: We've already had to look out for each other in the past - we always look out for each other! 
Nick: Oh Kev, can I tell them about that time in the truck - it was so damn cool! OK, when we first got in the group there were these kids in the neighbourhood that I didn't like. This one time I was riding in the back of Kevin's truck and they were driving behind us. We turned off and I mouthed something and they saw me, so they started making hand gestures towards Kevin who was driving, and he saw them in the mirror. He stopped the truck 'cause he didn't see what I did, put it in reverse and got out and had a real go at them - man, I got in so much trouble when he found out I started the whole thing! 
Howie: Nick, I can't believe you... was Kev mad? 
Nick: Oh yeah - Kevin's exact words were (in deep gruff voice), 'I should kick your ass out of the car and leave you to them!' 
Brian: And Nick was like, only four foot tall at the time! 
AJ: I was in the car with them, so Kevin knew he could get away with it 'cause he was with me, see! 
Nick: But that's what little brothers are supposed to do with big brothers, isn't it?! 

AJ's just had his very first tough tattoo, so what about the rest of you? 
Kevin: Maybe someday... 
Nick: I'd like to get one when I turn 21! 
AJ: I always said when we were established everywhere that I'd do it, but now I want more! 
Nick: I'd like to get the sun tattooed on my back! 
AJ: Now I want my nickname, and I really like the Dru Hill symbol with the little dragon. I also want to get my eyebrow pierced. Three tattoos and my eyebrow pierced - that'd be cool! 
Nick: Hey, let's all get BSB tattoos! 
A huge conversation then takes place about tattoos, particularly Keith Boyzone's, which AJ's v. impressed by... 
Kevin: ...but I don't like the idea of having one forever. It'd be nice if you could just have one for a year or two. 

Apart from yourselves, who's a cool person to be seen out and about with? 
Kevin: Arnold Schwarzenegger - we met him at Planet Hollywood party and he was REAL cool! 
Howie: Cindy Crawford! 
Kevin: We also hung out with Aerosmith - that was cool! 
Nick: AJ'd like to hang out with Teddy Riley! 
AJ: You see how I threw my voice a little bit there without even moving my lips! 
Then they turn the tables and get really tough... 
AJ: OK, so Allison, who do you think's cool to hang out with? 
TVH: Bruce Willis, definitely! I met him at a Planet Hollywood party, too. He was really cool. 
Brian: What about Will Smith - what's he like? 
TVH: Really nice - he's mad, he just laughs constantly! 
Nick: So what do you say about us when people ask what we're like? (all in dodgy English accents again) I bet you say, 'Man, they're stupid!' 
Kevin: 'God, they're a bunch of 10 year olds.' 
AJ: 'They're really wimpy...' 
And on and on they go - talk about ganging up! 

Hey enough of this already, have you lot ever been in a fight? 
Nick: I'm the one who gets in fights the most. I've been in a fight with Howie and AJ and... 
Kevin: NIck's funny when he's angry - he just starts swinging. 
(Kev does and impression of Nick wimpily flailing his arms around!) 

So come on then, own up - is there a tough side to Backstreet Boys? 
Kevin: Honestly, if we have to be tough then we will, and once we go it's over! But you know how some people get upset real easy and some are real laid back, but when they do get upset you better watch out? Well, we're like that, but it takes a lot to get us angry! 
Nick: OK, if we're dogs, let me give you the definition of what we'd be. Brian, he's a pitbull, AJ's a Great Dane, Howie's kinda sweet and yappy so he's just like a little chihauhau, Kevin's a rottweiler, and me? I'm a Scottish terrier! 

So, do we reckon they're old tough nuts then? Nah, they're a bunch of pussycats - just don't tell them I told you that...

-------------------------------

Backstreet Boys VS N'Sync The Match Of The Year


(Thanks "Jenny Carter")
Who would win the battle of the hunks? BRAVO was at the basketball court to find out.

This is one of the toughest matches in pop. The dishy Backstreet Boys versus gorgeous N'Sync in a basketball game set to provide 40 minutes of total excitement and top totty! Tensions are running high. Though the boys are more used to battling for the No 1 spot in the charts than a charity match, both teams are determined to win.

The venue for this boy-fest is the sports hall, Berlin, Germany, packed with 7,000 fans. Already the crowd have adopted a side chanting 'Vipers, Vipers.' The Vipers are the blues - Nick, Brian, Kevin and Howie of the Backstreet Boys and Lance of N'Sync. They're up against the Flyers, in white - Justin, JC, Joey and Chris from N'Sync and BSB's AJ. But why is AJ on N'Syncs side? Has he fallen out with the others? AJ explains, 'No, nothing like that. We chose the teams at random. At least now I'll be able to show all my mates in BSB how to play some real basketball!'

Applause fills the stadium as the Vipers arrive on court for the warm-up. Nick, number 13, flashes his famous grin, while Kevin sends the crowd wild with a brilliant slam dunk. Brian's not impressed. He's an ex-basketball junior champ, but didn't grow tall enough to turn professional and joined the Backstreet Boys instead! Money from the game will go to Hand In Hand, a German charity for sick children. Brian explains: 'I feel proud we've got this match of the ground. The important thing is that we're doing something to help children.'

The battle begins and Brian bounces a shot of the backboard and straight into the basket. It's the start of a Viper's onslaught and and, after the first half, the Flyers are losing 43-22. They start to look dejected, so the fans give them some much-needed encouragement and they fight back to draw level at 70-70. The last few seconds of the match are explosive. Kevin dribbles the ball to the halfway line, but is blocked by Justin, and passes to Nick. Brian grabs the ball, shoots - and scores! The Vipers take the last two points to winn 78-76.

Afterwards the players give each other a friendly embrace. All receive a souvenir medal. Then Nick's baby brother Aaron bursts out of the crowd giggling, grabs Nicks medal off him. Brian thanks the crowd for their support. 'I promise we'll be back next year,' he says. Suddenly a hand grabs the mike off him and N'Sync's Justin shouts: 'Next time we'll win!' But the battle of the hunks isn't over yet - they all join in trying to pull each other's shorts down!

----------------------------

Newspaper Article From Tampa, Florida


Backstreet Boys Singing The Blues Over Promoter's Handling Of Money
ORLANDO-Louis "Big Poppa" Pearlman, who discovered and groomed the Backstreet Boys, has a family rebellion on his hands on how to share the $200 million the popular band has earned.

Athough Pearlman,44,prefers to call it a family feud, this spat involves about 20 lawyers, hundreds of pages of court documents and judges in three states.

"We've always been a family," Pearlman said last week. "It's important to explain to the whole world this is an amicable situation,although it doesn't look that way."

Lawyer Judith Segelin, who is representing the Boys, describes the legal battle as "growing pains." She contends her clients have not been given accurate accoutings and that Pearlman and his company took "excessive amounts" of money though agreements the singers were fraudulently induced to sign.

A settlement is close that would keep Pearlman "as part of the Backstreet family." she said. The heart of this dispute is this: Pearlman said he wants a return on his $3 million investment in the group. The Boys, who range in age 18 to 27, want more control and money.

In 1992, Brian Littrell, AJ McLean, Nick Carter, Howie Dorough and Kevin Richardson were unknown.

Pearlman paid for choreographers, wardrobes, voice lessons and private tutors.

He paid the Boys weekly allowences and traveled to promote them. It took three years before the Boys got noticed, but now they are one of the most popular teen groups in the world.

Eariler this year, four of the Boys sued Pearlman, managers and several compinies governing the groups bussness. The suit, pending in US District Court in Orlando, contends the Boys aren't getting their fair share. They claim their $10 million dollar summer European tour gleaned them only a total of $300,000 Seglin said.

Complicating matters is a legal fight with the Boys' New York-based recording company, Zomba Recording Corp. Zomba and Pearlman's companies have sued each other over the Backstreet Boys' trademark, royalitesand control.

Zomba said Pearlman has threatened to bar the singers from using the Backstreet Boys name and to form a new male vocal group using the samemoniker.

Zomba wants Pearlman to pay nearly $500,000 in royalies. Pealman maintains Zomba has withheld royalies and wants the company to turn over the $100 million he thinks Zomba has earned from sales of about 18 million copies of the group's recordings.

Mixed in this fray is San Fransico merchandising company Winterland Productions, which has agreed to put $1.5 million in escrow to protect Pearlman's claims while the cases are sorted out, according to court records.

The group is touring in South America, so members weren't avalible for comment.

Pearlman says he would like peace.

"I don't look at the Boys as a business-deal investment." Pearlman said. "It's personal, and it's diffrent. This is family. My posion is, I'm Big Poppa. I'm not going to fight either of my boys, and I don't think they're going to fight with me. It's Family Feud- just like you see on TV."

--------------------------------

The Backstreet Boys ;


Those Embarrassing Moments
Have you ever felt really stupid? You're not alone! Read on to find out what we found out in this exclusive interview. Kevin, A.J., Howie, Nick and Brian have certainly felt humiliated before! To make matters worse, these all happened on-stage; that mean in front of a whole lot of people!

Kevin recalls a time when the Backstreet Boys were performing in Sea World in Orlando, Florida. "We were performing and I just wiped out on-stage; totally fell down. My feet came right out from under me and I landed on my butt." That didn't daze him a bit! "I kept dancing!" he added, "I was just sitting on my butt."

From a recent tour, A.J. can recount one of his more painful memories. "I was running as fast as I could. Kevin even told me afterwards, he was thinking, in the back of his mind, ‘He's gonna slip and be airborne as soon as he gets to the end of the stage,' and I ran sure enough," I saw a big patch of water and I tried to stop but I fell on my back; we were using headset mics; the battery pack went into my back– it didn't feel too great. I got up and kept going, but I kinda laid there for a couple of seconds, in pain. It was embarrassing because it was right, smack in front of everybody."

Howie told us he had an opposite experience. "A.J. and Nicky were hyping the crowd on this little catwalk that we had and I just decided to spontaneously come over there. Nicky didn't realize I was right next to him, and he threw his arms kinda back, and the next thing you know he kinda hit me and I was swinging over to the left. I was losing my balance and I was like, ‘Oh-no!' And all I could do was hope there was a little pillow or something..." Luckily for Howie (and for us!) There was a surprised, but prepared security guard right there to catch him. "It was defiantly a frightening experience, one that I laughed about after, but for that one moment," he trailed off, shuddering.

The youngest Backstreet Boy, Nick relays a mishap he had back in the day, when the stages contained two large flights of stairs. "I came running down from the stairs and my shoe got caught underneath the stair and I actually jumped right out of my shoe!" Of coarse he went back to get it and remembered to tie his shoe tighter next time!

Perhaps the most disastrous tale was Brian's. Singing the lead on "Quit Playin' Games", he was out front at a show in Vienna, Austria. "Next thing you know the band stops, there is no music, nothing, and the only thing I could think to do, I mean we're in front of 55,000 people and everything just goes dead except my microphone, so the only thing I could think of was to keep singing." Sounds like a good plan right? "So I was like, ‘Okay, crowd participation time. Let's see if they can sing the song,' so I'm sittin' here singing ‘Quit Playin' Games With My Heart' and I happened to turn around and look, and all the other guys, Kevin, A.J., Nick and Howie are gone–off the stage, and I look at the band... and they were gone, there was nobody on the stage, and I feel this tapping on my shoulder; it's the chief of police in Vienna, Austria, and he's tellin' me, ‘You have to stop.' I don't see anybody on stage so I feel really stupid bein' out there by myself, and so I stopped and I handed him the microphone...." "I turned around and I was the Lone Ranger on the stage. Afterwards, I asked everybody where they went and they were like, ‘They told us to get off the stage!'" The venue was so crowded that people started getting hurt, and they had to interrupt the show to give the excited fans a warning.

Luckily for most of us, we can be thankful when we feel really sheepish it's most likely not in front of 55,000 people!

------------------------------

Fun Boy Three


(AJ, Nick and Howie)

Quit Playing Games
Which Olympic event would you like to compete in?
AJ: Two hundred meters track race. I used to run when I was in high school. I didn't have much choice ‘cause I sucked at every other sport.

Howie: I'd choose the water skiing event. I can do in on one leg! I'm quite good on the boogie-board too. It's like a mini surf board that you do tricks on. I'm not bad at beach volleyball too (Oi Howie... That's enough!)

What's the latest wind up you've played on the other guys?

Nick: I poured water in Howie's mouth while he was asleep and he got pretty angry. I always stick stuff in his mouth. He tries to get his own back but never succeeds!


Everybody... Backstreet's Back
How has success changed you over the past four years?
AJ: It's made all of us a little tougher. But we have changed, there was a point when we weren't allowed facial hair in the band

Eh?

AJ: We wanted to be clean-cut. Now we've become individuals within the group.

Howie: You can't stay young and naive forever. It helps that we're constantly travelling and meeting new people.

How do you remember all those new names and faces?

AJ: I often have to ask the other guys.

Have you ever admitted to someone that you don't have a clue who they are?

AJ: Yeah. It's better to be honest. I tell you what though (with a cheeky grin) I'm better at remembering women's names!

How much do you worry about what the fans think of you?

Nick: I'm aware that they watch our every move, but if I act outrageous I don't think our fans will think worse of e. I try to prove that I'm an all-round honest and open person - ‘cause that's the truth.


We've Got It Goin' On
If you had the day off today where would you go? Nick: Well I had a day off yesterday and I went to Hamleys in London to buy some more Beanie Babies. (Toy beanbag animals) My new hobby's collect them. The two I really want are the Brit Baby and the Princess - a purple teddy bear with a white rose on it. It comes with a little poem about Princess Diana. Hamleys had sold out, so I'm still on the hunt.
Do you have an assistant to remind you about family birthdays?

AJ: No, we still do stuff like that ourselves. Last March I freaked out when I saw all the Mother's Day cards in London shops, but then I remembered that back home Mother's Day is in June. (Doh)

Howie: I'm te worst at remembering birthdays and I feel so bad about that.

AJ: When's my birthday?

Howie: February.

AJ: (Looking flabbergasted) It's January!

Howie: Oops... I did that on purpose. It's the end of January. I knew that. I've just bought a mini computer and I'm gonna put everybody's birthdays on it.


As Long As You Love Me
You're asked to appear on a TV show tomorrow, but it clashes with a romantic weekend away. Which do you choose?
AJ: The TV appearance. I'd just hope the girl understands the business we're in. If she gave me hell I'd feel awkward, but I'd still cancel our date. My career's too important. Before I get serious I'd have to say, ‘Look, you better be prepared for me to hop on a flight right now,‘ if it's for the good of the band. If a girl can't respect that then she's not the right one for me.

Nick: I agree. We can't let our fans down. They might have waited ages to see us. I wouldn't be worried about upsetting a girl.


I'll Never Break Your Heart
What breaks your heart?
AJ: Selfish people. I felt a bit better when we did a charity gig back in Orlando. All these families, who'd never even met, came together at our concert and raised tons of cash.

Howie: For me it's seeing people cry. Whenever my elder brothers and sisters got in trouble and cried I'd always end up crying along with them ‘cause it would upset me so much. My sister once told me that she used to cry on purpose just to make me blub.

What about when your fans cry with happiness?

Howie: That upsets me too. If someone's happy I want to see them enjoying themselves.

If you're having girl trouble do you talk to your mum? Nick: Yeah, I go to my dad too. Parents are here to help their kids through life. It's there job to love you and tell you what's right and wrong.

Nick, what's the best piece of ‘girl advice' your mum's given?

Nick: To treat girls with respect. I would never hit a girl. Even if I was being beaten down by her, I would not lay a hand on her. I would always show her respect.


All I Have To Give
Is there anything you'd love to give your family?
Nick: I've given then a lot already ‘cause I care so much about them. I've given my brothers and sisters change to better schools and brought them loads of toys. I guess I'd try to give them whatever they wanted.

If L&K Magazine gave you a present right now what would you like?

Howie: Wow! Right now? An all-inclusive holiday with my family on a tropical island and a Ferrari to drive when I get home. I've got very basic tastes!

AJ: I'd like a holiday just for me. I'd go and get in touch with myself - take a swim in ‘Lake Me'! Nah, I'm kidding. It'd be cool just to chill out and be totally free with no responsibilities or worries!

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Beach Boys
The sun's beating down, the sea's lapping at our ankles and hey, The Backstreet Boys are throwing ball just a stone's throw away! Not a typical scene on Brighton Beach - but that's ‘cos we're over in the good old US of A, relaxing on Santa Monica beach with Nick, AJ, Brian, Kevin and Howie as they relax and have some fun.
"We've been so busy recently," moans Howie. "So it's nice to take time to just chill - well, for a few hours anyway!"

The boys are filming for the American TV Show The Big Help, but of course they make time to talk to Smash Hits.

"We didn't expect so many people to show up to the shoot," says Nick, talking about the hundreds of fans, mainly girls, packed into the small makeshift arena in front of the stage. They've been crammed into the tiny space for the last few hours, waiting to catch a glimpse of the boys. But before they do, they have to wait for the band to finish their latest ball game - or argument, as seems to be the case between AJ and Nick!

Th two are fighting over who's ball it is, and Nick's not too happy that everyone's siding with AJ!

"I can't believe it, it's definitely my ball!" he shouts, but AJ isn't having any of it. 'Course, they're only joking but we decide to scamper, just in case fists start to fly. Well, would you like to be caught in the crossfire between two burly Backstreet Boys? Instead, we take Nick up on his offer to try a bit of snorkeling and leave the others to roam the golden beach.

"The thing is," whispers Nick as he puts on his mask, "AJ is mad at me for calling him a coward earlier ‘cos he wouldn't go on the roller coaster!" Apparently AJ has a secret fear of fairground rides and Nick's been ribbing the poor lad about it all day!

Nick shows off his snorkeling skills for a while, before we realize it's time to get back to our place at the front of the stage!

After a quick change of outfits the five are ready to play to the deafening crowd as well as the television audience. They perform "Quit Playin' Games", which has just gone to number two in the US charts, as well as an a capella version of "Lean On Me", a ‘classic' from years ago.

Backstage, after the show, the band bump into a famous little fan - the six-year old star from the film Jerry Maguire, Jonathan Lipnick! The pintsized celeb has a special favour to ask the band... "I want to go to the fairground, will you take me?"

Now where has AJ suddenly disappeared to?!!!

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Backstreet's Chat

Food for thought
What with all that foreign travel, you could be forgiven for thinking the Backstreet Boys were dead experimental with their grub. But is that the case? Is it ‘eck!
"I eat complete crap!" hoots AJ. "I eat McDonald's all the time"

"You could live at McDonald's, man," jokes Kev.

"Yeah, I could eat it 24/7- breakfast, lunch and ... actually no, I take that back," he corrects himself. "I could eat McDonald's for lunch and dinner, but I hate their breakfast. Burger King's croissants are good for breakfast, then I'd have lunch and dinner at McDonald's". (Glad that sorted!)

"Howie eats real slow," chuckles Brian, "and he eats everything on his plate. As for me, when I get full, that's it, I'm finished."

"I'm a messy eater," chips in shame-faced Nick. "I don't spill food everywhere or anything though... I'm not that bad."

"Yes you are!" cry the others.

"Shut up, man!" snaps Nick, a bit muffled. "Pizza's my absolute favourite. I love pizza, man. I could eat it all the time. (Nick drifts off into pizza heaven) I love it with just cheese, double extra cheese."

You're not exactly health freaks, then? "I try to eat healthy, but it's hard because a lot of the time we don't have the time," moans Kev. "I used to love McDonald's/ (Looking slightly pained) I mean I like McDonald's but I just can't eat it. It makes me feel like crap."

"I'm luck, I don't gain a pound," booms AJ smugly. "I could eat everyone under the table. I can eat two quarter-pounders, six chicken nuggets, two large fries and a coke! It must all go to my feet! Then again (looking worried), wait until I hit 40... I'm gonna be huge!!!!"


While you Were Sleeping
All that eating can make a boy sleepy... do any of the BSBs have any embarrassing (ahem) bedtime habits? All fingers point to Howie!
"I don't know if I snore, but they all say I do!" he sighs. "(To the others) You all snore too- I've caught you!"

"How would you know you're snoring?" asks Nick. "You're asleep!"

"I sleepwalked the other day!" continues Howie. "I dreamt I was going to the bathroom and ended up on the balcony!"

"Yeah, and he talks in his sleep too," jokes the B-Rockster.

"Yeah, he mumbles," adds Nick. "We try to joke around with him and mumble back ‘What, Howie?".

Bit it seems Howie's not the only one. "You've talked in your sleep too," says Nick, turning to Brian. "I heard you when we used to room together."

Oh-oh, this is news to Brian! "Really?!" he asks.

"I snore if I sleep on my back," admits AJ, moving on. "But I think everyone snores. We don't a lot of sleep - we've gone whole days without any. You get used to sleeping anywhere, be it in a car or a plane or a train..."


And Now The Bit You've Been All Waiting For!
OK, boys, on to the subject we all wanna hear you talk about...girls! Who's going to be the first to spill their most romantic yarn?
"The most romantic thing I've ever done was pretty cool actually!" laughs Kevin. "I was dating a new girl and she had to go to the doctor, but she was dreading it, so I got up early and made her her favourite breakfast. I made bagels with cream cheese and bought some strawberries, I took it over to her apartment, knocked on the door and said, ‘Hi, just wanted to give you this to start off your day.'" Wow!

"I've got a good one too," reveals Howie. "I had a friend coming to visit me from out of town. I'd told her to look for someone with her name on a card, then I went along to the station with a big bunch of flowers. I was wearing this white puffy jacket and I had a piece of a card with her name and ‘White Coat Services' written on the back of it..."

Anyone else? "Yeah, I was with a girl who went to a girls' school," says Brian. "I knew her locker combination, so I sort of broke into her locker (hmm...) And put some roses in there with all these little notes. When she opened it, there were roses everywhere!"

"The most romantic thing I've ever done is take a girl to Burger King," laughs Nick. Nice...

"Shoot!" cries AJ, looking put out. "I haven't had an opportunity to do anything as romantic as I'd like to. I'm an all-out kinda person, but an old-fashioned romantic too. If I did something, it would be huge, but I haven't done it yet!"

Don't worry, fella, there's plenty of time for that... and loads of willing takers out there, eh?

--------------------------------

Bravo met the Backstreet Boys in Colognia where the boys spent some time appearing at the Charity Show 'Hand in hand with children', doing several TV appearances and AJ spending 3 days with his g/f Amanda at their hotel.
BRAVO: Your German fans are anxiously waiting for your third album. When are you done with it?

A.J.: We have to record 5 or 6 more songs. We just came from Sweden, where we were working on new tunes with our producer Max Martin.

BRAVO: What will the new songs sound like?

Howie: Very varying, something for everyone: from Hip Hop to Pop and Rock'n Roll to Country. The uptempo songs are really wild, and the ballads will be very smooth, in the style of the unplugged concert.

Nick: My song 'heaven in your eyes', which I only sang live till now, will be on the new album as well. We redid it though, the new title for it is 'I need you tonight'.

BRAVO: How many song did you write for the new album?

Brian: Kevin wrote the song 'Back to your heart', and I wrote the song 'Where can we go from here', as well as 'The perfect thing' - which is dedicated to all our moms.

Nick: We wrote two more songs, which we already presented on the 'night out...' album: the midtempo song 'I'll be the one' and a very thoughtful ballad, which we sing together. The title is 'Show me the meaning of being lonely'.

A.J.: That's a total goosebump tune. Probably because of the acoustic spanish guitar.

BRAVO: When will the new album and a new single be released?

Brian: The new single will be released in February. We don't know yet which song we will pick, though. The new album is supposed to be released end of March. We dedicate it to our producer Denniz Pop, who made us famous, and unfortunately died this year.

Howie: I am also dedicating it to my sister Caroline.

BRAVO: 1998 was probably the most turbulent year in the history of the BsB...

Howie: True. We had a rough year. Two close people died. Brian's surgery, the separation of our management. But we stuck together and are stronger than ever now. We leared a lot this past year.

BRAVO: What about your solo-plans?

Nick: Each of us still wants to pursue solo plans outside the group. But that doesn't mean the Bsb will break up! Right now we concentrate on our world tour. It has total priority right now. That's why I'm post poning my solo album.

BRAVO: Where will you rehears for the tour?

Kevin: In Orlando. We will put up the stage before tourstart - most likely at the Universal Studios. We will need at least 6 weeks to rehears the new show. We will invite our families to dress rehearsal! And on April 26th we'll come to Germany!

Howie: The pyros we planned are amazing! The fans can expect many surprises. We already got the dates set for 70 shows. After Europe we will tour America, South America, Kanada, and Asia.

BRAVO: Let's talk about your private life - A.J. and Brian have girlfriends now, how bout the others?

Kevin: Howie and I are single (they all look at Nick)

Nick: (grins and fidgets) I have a steady girlfriend now, for the first time - and I am very, very much in love!

BRAVO: What's her name, and how did you two meet?

Nick: I won't tell her name, because we have been together for a few weeks only. I met her in Tampa. She is a singer as well, and is going to have her big breakthrough very soon. She is blonde and kinda looks like my sister B.J. But she is not a member of the group 'Innosense' (he laughs)

BRAVO: Will you move to Los Angeles with your parents?

Nick: No. I will stay in Tampa and bought a house there two months ago. It would be a bit hard for me, with all that's going on with the BsB right now, to organize everything from LA. I will visit my family there of course, and also spend Christmas there at their new house! On New Years Eve I'll be in Florida however. We will perform at the arena in Orlando, the last concert of our big U.S. tour. And after that we'll all have a huge party!

Howie: We actually all bought houses in Florida. We were going to do that for a while now, but this year we finally had the time to do that, since we stayed in the States for a while.

BRAVO: Nick, your mom Jane wrote a book about you recently. Did you read it yet?

Nick: Of course, and I think it's great! She gives advice for kids who want to make it big in the show business, and their parents. I know about the sacrifices my parents made for me, and I really appreciate it. Without them, I wouldn't be what I am today. The book hit the 'New York Times Bestseller list' on 12, and is still climbing - Mommíe is really happy! I am very proud of my mother!

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Backstreet Boys Don Mustaches For Milk Ads
c/o MTV News
After wrapping up a record-setting 1998 with a hometown show in Orlando, Florida, the Backstreet Boys plan to take a few weeks off to start work on its sophomore album -- although the boy band will next turn up in advertisements as part of the mega-popular Milk Mustache campaign.
The Backstreet Boys recently convened on location in New York City with renowned photographer Annie Liebowitz to shoot the ads, which are due to turn up in print media nationwide on January 7.

Despite the overwhelming success of the Milk Mustache campaign, conflicting data has arisen as to whether such ads have actually helped increase milk consumption since its launch several years ago. Regardless of the statistics, the Backstreet Boys said that they were happy to don the white mustaches for the ads, and talked with MTV about their agreement to participate in the pro-dairy project.

"Milk's a great thing for growing young people or for older people," Nick said, "you know it's an everyday part of life. It goes with cereal, cookies, everything and I just think doing this [is a good way] to get more people to [drink milk]."

"Especially for people who are very active in sports or dancing like we do," added A.J. "You definitely need strong bones for that. Definitely your calcium intake -- and milk is one of the best ways of getting that."

"I think that we're going to be posted up on lockers and stuff as a milk ad," concluded Brian, referring to the ads collectability amongst teens, "and that's pretty cool."

The Backstreet Boys have already released "All I Have to Give" to radio as the next single from the group's 1997 self-titled debut, while a commercial version of the song is due in stores on January 8.